Editor's note: This article reviews the documentary feature Heightened Scrutiny, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It originally appeared on Out.
Cornell Law School defines "heightened scrutiny," otherwise known as "intermediate scrutiny," as a test the courts use to determine a statute's constitutionality. It is typically invoked "when a state or the federal government passes a statute [that] discriminates against, negatively affects, or creates some kind of classification affecting certain protected classes."
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In order to pass heightened scrutiny, a challenged law must do two things: "further an important government interest" and "must do so by means that are substantially related to that interest."
Since the 1976 case Craig v. Boren — which is when the heightened scrutiny test was created — any statute that discriminates based on gender must undergo the test. If a statute does not pass the two aforementioned pillars of the test, that statute should be declared unconstitutional.
Named after that test, Sam Feder's new documentary Heightened Scrutiny follows Chase Strangio preparing to become the first out trans lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Skrmetti — a case involving a Tennessee family that is challenging a state law banning gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Strangio is the co-director of the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project, and he's also considered a hero for many people in the LGBTQ+ community. As this documentary shows, however, Strangio is, after all, just one man juggling his roles as a partner, a parent, a cat owner, and a friend while also reminding us why we must keep fighting.
The film presents Strangio's arguments plainly and logically. If cis children have access to this healthcare, trans kids should, too. If doctors and parents want to do specific treatments, they know better than lawmakers and political talking heads.
Unfortunately, as this documentary shows, much of the move to ban healthcare for trans minors has been heavily influenced by trans-exclusionary rhetoric within prominent newspapers, talk shows, podcasts, and social media posts. While Strangio argues for human rights and following the U.S. Constitution, his opponents default to talking points like "don't turn kids into medical experiments" — a narrative that distorts facts by quoting unchecked and unverified opinions echoed by politicians and pundits rather than actual science, studies, and doctors.
These opinion pieces are warning America that there's a great epidemic of kids being tricked into transitioning and then regretting it... a narrative that state lawmakers, federal lawmakers, and even the Supreme Court are relying on when crafting and upholding these bills.
To logical-minded viewers, it's frustrating to watch Strangio making a clear, concise argument backed by science and the Constitution, but the argument continues to fall on ears that refuse to listen.
Strangio's build-up to the case also took place during the 2024 election, and it's a gut punch to see Strangio, his colleagues, and his loved ones witnessing America's further slide to the right and against LGBTQ+ rights. But they never once give up hope.
For the excellent documentarian Sam Feder, Heightened Scrutiny is another powerful trans-themed doc to premiere at Sundance. In 2020, he premiered Disclosure at the festival — one of the best documentaries about Hollywood history to come out in the last 20 years.
But instead of looking to the past, Feder turns his lens on what's happening now. Though the documentary feature is somewhat of a depressing and frustrating experience to watch, it also points out that even when we feel depressed and pessimistic, we can’t give up hope, and we can’t give up the fight.
Our review: Four out of five stars.
Heightened Scrutiny premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
