Second judge blocks Trump order on gender transition care for youths
A federal judge on Tuesday issued a nationwide order blocking executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that target transgender young people and their health care, clearing the way for hospitals to provide the treatment.
The ruling comes days after a judge in Seattle blocked the executive order on gender transition care for youths in Washington, Minnesota, Oregon and Colorado in a lawsuit brought by attorneys general in those states.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson granted a preliminary injunction in a case filed in Baltimore, saying plaintiffs had shown that the lawsuit was likely to succeed on grounds that the executive orders overstepped the president’s authority, conflict with laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and are unconstitutional. The decision came a day before a temporary restraining order was set to expire in the case.
“The challenged provisions of the Executive Orders place significant conditions on federal funding that Congress did not prescribe,” Hurson wrote. “This, the Constitution simply does not allow, as “(t)here is no provision in the Constitution that authorizes the President to enact, to amend, or to repeal statutes.”
Transgender young people, their parents and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups PFLAG and GLMA last month sued to roll back a pair of Trump orders to officially recognize only male and female sexes and to attempt to end federal support for providers of gender transition care for people under 19.
In its order, the Trump administration said gender transition care amounts to “chemical and surgical mutilation.”
Karen Loewy, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, said Tuesday that the ruling allowed plaintiffs to breathe a sigh of relief as they wait for likely appeals from the Department of Justice. Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Every plaintiff is in this to ensure that their kids or they themselves have access to the medically necessary gender-affirming care that helps them live their fully realized healthy lives … and to thrive,” Loewy said.
The health-care executive orders prompted some hospitals and providers of gender transition and LGBTQ care to stop filling prescriptions for medications such as puberty blockers and hormones to youths, or to suspend care altogether.
Some hospitals – including Children’s National Hospital in D.C. and the health-care systems affiliated with the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University – resumed care after Hurson, who was appointed in 2023 by President Joe Biden, issued temporary restraining orders Feb. 13 against the orders. But now they all can, Loewy said.
“Health-care institutions across the country are now free to resume or continue providing the gender-affirming medical care that is necessary without having to worry doing so will cut off the money for advance research, training their medical staff and all the things that health-care institutions need to do,” Loewy said.