Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s LGBTQI+ Rights Clinic filed an amicus brief Tuesday with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that will determine a pivotal state’s access to gender-affirming care and likely set a precedent for similar litigation nationwide.

The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, will consider Tennessee’s ban on providing gender-affirming medical care, including puberty blockers and hormones, to transgender minors.

The brief highlights the widespread practice and continuous advancement of gender-affirming care methods in the country and discusses the historical mischaracterization of medical interventions as experimental, along with the legal hurdles that have hindered access to better care.

“This brief has the power to change hearts and minds because most Americans are not aware of the deep historical roots of people identifying as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth,” said Pritzker Prof. Kara Ingelhart, the clinic’s director, in a Tuesday news release. “The political conversation today ignores the fact people across cultures and time have experienced the desire to transition their sex identity.”

Tennessee is one of 25 states that has set restrictions for young people under 18 from accessing gender-affirming care, according to NPR.

On Sept. 3, a total of 32 amicus briefs were filed, mostly by an assembly of LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations against the Tennessee law.

Pritzker Prof. Steven G. Calabresi, a co-chairman of the Board of Directors for the conservative-leaning Federalist Society, was also part of a separate amicus brief in support of overturning the ban.

In filling the amicus brief, the new NU clinic, announced in April, continues to focus on advancing litigation and advocacy work to promote LGBTQI+ rights, especially at a time when states have become battlegrounds for laws about gender-affirming care.

The Supreme Court has not set a hearing date for the case yet.

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