THE STORY – Amid the surge in anti-trans legislation that Chase Strangio battles in the courtroom, he must also fight against media bias, exposing how the narratives in the press influence public perception and the fight for transgender rights.
THE CAST – N/A
THE TEAM – Sam Feder (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 89 Minutes
“This is about humanity and people’s lack of humanity.” These are words spoken to children by supportive parents who desperately want the world to treat their kids as normal. At the end of the day, children who identify as trans are normal, but the laws of the United States of America haven’t entirely caught up with society’s viewpoint on the matter. In walks Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who will stop at nothing to give trans people the rights that they deserve.
To do this, Chase must argue before the Supreme Court on behalf of trans children amid a surge in anti-trans legislation. The election of Donald Trump as President and a decidedly more conservative court make this an uphill climb for a young lawyer who also happens to be trans. The first trans lawyer to face the Supreme Court, Chase is determined to rewrite the laws that do not discriminate based on sex and give these children the healthcare they deserve and the medical treatments that might, in fact, ensure their survival.
In “Heightened Scrutiny,” director Sam Feder follows Chase as he prepares his arguments in the Supreme Court case The United States vs. Skrmetti. The case came to the highest court in the land due to the state of Tennessee’s refusal to provide medical care for trans minors to identify as they choose, regardless of what it says on their birth certificate. The film attempts to connect media bias as a direct link to legislation in conservative states like Tennessee, throwing everyone from Fox News to The New York Times under the bus in the process.
As the title suggests, “Heightened Scrutiny” is a film about discrimination and its effects on innocent Americans who justwant to live the life they believe they have the right to live. Unfortunately, the underlying circumstances of a grand legal case are sidelined by the person at the center of the documentary, who becomes the subject. Chase’s story is no doubt compelling and worth noting, but his efforts become fuzzy as the film progresses.
One primary reason for this blurred line between the case and the attorney is that the case is not yet complete. The documentary is merely a case study of one lawyer’s preparations before he argues in front of the Supreme Court in December 2024…one month before the film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. No judgment has been made in this case, and it will most likely not be made until June 2025.
Chase’s preparation is mighty admirable, but an unresolved conclusion makes for a bit of a headache once the credits begin to roll on “Heightened Scrutiny.” It’s comparable to watching “To Kill a Mockingbird” without the court scene where the marginalized group in the rafters stand for Atticus Finch once the verdict is read…despite it not going their way, they respect the efforts of a David vs. Goliath story. It’s a climax without a finish that makes for an unsettled debate, feeling like a documentary too rushed to production and impatient for a valuable conclusion.
