The Supreme Court announced today that it had upheld a Tennessee law that prohibits some medical treatments for transgender youths. The decision, which shielded similar laws in more than 20 other states, was supported by the court’s six conservative justices. All three liberal justices dissented.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that the ban did not violate the Constitution’s equal protection principles, dismissing the argument that it discriminated based on sex. He acknowledged the “fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy and propriety” of the treatments, but wrote that those questions should be resolved by elected legislators. (See our annotated version of the court’s decision here.)

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the court’s decision “authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them.”

For more: These 27 states have restricted gender-transition treatments for minors since 2021.

Go deeper: “The Protocol” is a new Times podcast about the development of medical treatment for transgender minors and how it became a target of the Trump administration. Listen to it here.