By Howard Fischer | AZ Capitol Times
Key Points:
- Top GOP lawmakers want to appeal federal court ruling on transgender birth certificates
- Judge James Soto voided state law requiring surgery for amended birth certificates
- Arizona law bars doctors from performing “irreversible gender reassignment surgery” on minors
Top Republican lawmakers want to appeal a federal court ruling that voided a state law that says transgender individuals can get an amended birth certificate only if they first undergo surgery.
In new court filings, the lawyer for House Speaker Steve Montenegro and Senate President Warren Petersen contend that U.S. District Court Judge James Soto got it wrong in voiding the surgery requirement. Justin Smith called it “a dramatic departure” from a law that has been on the books for five decades.
But it’s not just that they’re unhappy with the ruling. Smith said that Attorney General Kris Mayes, who was defending the law, has not been as vigorous in doing that as the GOP lawmakers believe she should have been.
