Anderson v. Crouch
Lambda Legal filed this class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia on behalf of Shauntae Anderson and other transgender adults enrolled in Medicaid who were denied coverage for gender-affirming surgery. The lawsuit challenges West Virginia’s Medicaid exclusion as a violation of the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment and federal statutory guarantees.
Transgender adults in West Virginia are being denied medically necessary care simply because of who they are. After Lambda Legal won both at the district court and the Fourth Circuit—protecting equal access to care for several years—the U.S. Supreme Court erased that victory and sent the case back to be reviewed again in light of its decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which authorized Tennessee and other states to ban gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents in some circumstances. Lambda Legal argued before the Fourth Circuit that Skrmetti does not govern this case; the Fourth Circuit reversed its earlier ruling, finding that West Virginia’s Medicaid program may continue to deny coverage for gender-affirming surgery.
Lambda Legal has asked the full Fourth Circuit to look at the case once again, and we are awaiting a ruling on that request.
- November 11, 2020: Lambda Legal files a class-action lawsuit challenging West Virginia’s Medicaid exclusion for gender-affirming surgery on behalf of transgender Medicaid participants.
- August 17, 2022: The district court rules that West Virginia’s Medicaid exclusion violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and federal statutes, protecting transgender adults’ access to care.
- August 31, 2022: West Virginia appeals the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
- April 29, 2024: The Fourth Circuit affirms the district court’s ruling, finding that denying medically necessary care to transgender adults violates constitutional and statutory rights.
- June 30, 2025: The U.S. Supreme Court vacates, or cancels, the Fourth Circuit’s ruling, and returns the case to that court for further consideration in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti.
- December 9, 2025: Lambda Legal argues before the Fourth Circuit that Skrmetti—which addressed restrictions on care for minors—does not apply to this case involving adults, and urges the court to reaffirm its earlier ruling.
- March 10, 2026: The Fourth Circuit reverses its previous decision, allowing West Virginia’s Medicaid exclusion to stand.
- March 24, 2026: Lambda Legal asks the full Fourth Circuit to rehear the case.