U.S. v. Skrmetti: Debating Reality

Clifford Geertz once observed that law is a way of “imagining the real,” that it offers “visions of community” rather than “echoes of it.” If so, then the gender debates represent more than clashes between interest groups, masking instead the deeper question of what we think is real.

This special edition presents some of the papers given at colloquium on U.S. v. Skrmetti, to be decided by the Supreme Court, probably in June 2025. The case concerns a Tennessee law prohibiting the use of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones on children. However the decision turns out, it will have profound implications.