HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY

Directed by Sam Feder | 89 min | USA 

An actively unfolding story of resistance follows ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio and a group of journalists and activists responding to anti-trans backlash in real-life communities and workplaces while revealing mainstream media's shocking complicity in rolling back hardwon trans civil rights. 

HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY follows the entire arc of the epic legal battle Chase must strategize and fight — a 2023 Tennessee state law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth (LW. v. Skrmetti) — with a consequential decision expected in June 2025. The heat is on Chase, as the first out trans person to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the outcome will determine the future of legal bodily autonomy for contraception, abortion, and reproductive healthcare.

High stakes—democracy, truth, and justice—drive a story that will hinge on SCOTUS's limitations of constitutional protections against government discrimination on "the basis of sex." HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY investigates the mainstream media’s role in America’s far right attack on democracy and traces the fight against anti-trans legislation to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.