In 2022, the Supreme Court undid a constitutional right for the first time by declaring that the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion in the landmark decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
In a decision this week called U.S. v. Skrmetti, they’ve taken the next step, extending the logic of Dobbs and destabilizing much of the law on sex discrimination.
The majority in Skrmetti was careful to cite case law on sex discrimination and suggest that the law at issue, which banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth, simply raised different issues. But Skrmetti shows how fragile protections against sex discrimination have become without any explicit guarantee, like the Equal Rights Amendment.