Days after a Seattle judge blocked Donald Trump’s executive order on gender transition care for youths in a lawsuit brought by Attorneys-General, a US district judge last week blocked executive orders targeting transgender young people and their healthcare, clearing the way for hospitals to provide the treatment.
Judge Brendan 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 Washington Post reports that the decision came a day before a temporary restraining order was set to expire in the case.
“The challenged provisions of the 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 authorises 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 recognise only male and female sexes and to attempt to end federal support for providers of gender transition care for people under 19.
The Trump administration said gender transition care amounts to “chemical and surgical mutilation”.
Karen Loewy, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, said last week’s ruling allowed plaintiffs to some relief as they wait for likely appeals from the Department of Justice. Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Some hospitals, including Children’s National Hospital in Washington, and the healthcare systems affiliated with the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University, resumed care after Hurson, who was appointed in 2023 by then President Joe Biden, issued temporary restraining orders on 13 February against the orders. But now they all can, Loewy said.
“Healthcare institutions countrywide are now free to resume or continue providing the gender-affirming medical care necessary without having to worry that doing so will cut off the money for advance research, training their medical staff and all the things that healthcare institutions need to do,” she added.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Global healthcare on shaky ground as Trump’s moves take effect
Chaos as Trump orders CDC researchers to retract papers
Fears as Trump’s anti-vax, anti-abortion, anti-trans team moves in