Overview

• The full Eighth Circuit, sitting en banc, issued an 8–2 decision in Brandt v. Griffin authored by Judge Duane Benton that reverses a 2023 injunction and restores enforcement of Arkansas’s SAFE Act.
• The majority held that the SAFE Act regulates medical procedures by age rather than classifying on the basis of sex or transgender status, applying rational-basis review under United States v. Skrmetti.
• The law now enforceable in Arkansas forbids physicians from prescribing puberty blockers, providing cross-sex hormones, performing transition-related surgeries or making formal referrals for care to anyone under 18.
• Two judges, including Judge Jane Kelly, dissented in part, warning that the majority disregarded evidence of mental-health harms to transgender youth documented at the district level.
• Civil-rights groups including the ACLU of Arkansas and Lambda Legal have vowed to pursue further appeals and potentially request Supreme Court review.