Professor Soucek Talks to USA Today about Laws Limiting Transgender Youth

Professor Brian Soucek spoke to USA Today for an April 9 story about the growing national battle over the rights of transgender youth.

On April 8, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed bills blocking transgender youth from gender-affirming medical treatment and sports participation, and from using restrooms not designated for the gender they were assigned at birth. The Alabama laws join a spate of new state measures that reflect conservative opposition to gender-affirming medical treatment and sports participation, or to discussion of LGBTQ issues in schools.

The USA Today story reported that the U.S. Department of Justice recently issued a letter to states reminding them of their federal anti-discrimination obligations regarding such laws.

“Having the full force of the Department of Justice behind these interpretations of the law and ready to enforce it really does up the ante,” Soucek told the newspaper. Read the article.

Professor Soucek’s primary teaching and research interests are antidiscrimination law, civil procedure, constitutional law, and refugee/asylum law. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Mark R. Kravitz in Connecticut, and Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Professor Soucek is a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow.