A federal judge in Seattle issued a preliminary injunction late Friday blocking the government from withholding federal funds from hospitals in four states that offer gender-transition treatment for people under 19. The decision dealt a setback to a key part of the Trump administration’s broad effort to limit the official recognition of transgender identity.
The judge, Lauren J. King, had issued a temporary restraining order in February, finding that the states and doctors suing the administration would most likely prevail in their claim that President Trump’s plan is unconstitutional. The injunction on Friday night signaled that the government will need to overcome substantial legal challenges to carry it out.
Judge King said that Mr. Trump’s order likely violates the separation of powers between the executive branch and Congress, and the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantees to youth seeking gender-related treatments. But she denied the states’ challenge of a section of the order directing the Justice Department to investigate providers under a law that bans female genital mutilation, stating that “no credible threat of prosecution exists” in such cases.
“The court’s holding here is not about the policy goals that President Trump seeks to advance; rather, it is about reaffirming the structural integrity of the Constitution by ensuring that executive action respects congressional authority,’’ Judge King wrote. “This outcome preserves an enduring system of checks and balances that the founders considered to be ‘essential to the preservation of liberty.’”
The injunction by Judge King, an appointee of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., applies only to medical providers in Washington, Oregon, Minnesota and Colorado, the states that brought the suit along with three doctors affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine.
In a separate lawsuit, a judge in Maryland has temporarily instructed the Trump administration to keep federal funding in place for all providers in the country who offer youth gender medicine. A more considered ruling is expected in that case before its emergency order expires next week.