President Donald Trump's administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that Tennessee's Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors is not unlawful, reversing the position taken by the government under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.

The Justice Department's new position was expected because President Trump had made opposition to transgender rights a central campaign theme.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government no longer backs transgender minors and their families in Tennessee who are challenging a state ban on gender-affirming care, the Trump administration told the Supreme Court Friday.

The U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump administration is withdrawing its challenge of a Tennessee law – argued before the U.S. Supreme Court – that blocks gender-affirming care for children. A deputy solicitor general for the Department of Justice notified the nation’s highest court Friday that it no longer believes the state law denies