Judge Blocks Trump DOJ From Accessing Children's Transgender Care Records In South Bay

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A federal judge temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Justice Thursday from obtaining medical records for patients who received gender-affirming care at a South Bay hospital, finding the families challenging the subpoena are likely to prevail on their constitutional privacy claims.

U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Justice Department and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche from seeking or obtaining records that could identify minors who received transition-related care at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto while the lawsuit moves forward.

The case was brought by several families represented by the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, GLAD Law and other legal organizations.

According to the ruling, the injunction bars the government from obtaining records that could identify patients or reveal diagnoses, clinical evaluations, treatment plans or consent documents related to gender-affirming care.

The lawsuit stems from a federal grand jury subpoena issued to Stanford Children's Hospital after similar administrative subpoenas seeking patient records were rejected by courts elsewhere, according to the plaintiffs. The subpoena was issued through a federal court in Texas, even though the hospital, patients and records are all located in California.

Judge Pitts wrote that the families have a constitutionally protected privacy interest in their medical records and found the government had not shown an apparent connection between the requested records and a criminal investigation in Texas.

"The court held that parents and children have a constitutionally protected privacy interest in their medical records that the Trump administration must respect," Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, said in a statement.

“This decision is a victory for every family in America," said Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD Law. "The government cannot rummage through children's medical files to serve a political agenda. And today, families across California are breathing a sigh of relief."

Judge Pitts also allowed the families to proceed anonymously, citing concerns they could face harassment if their identities were publicly disclosed.

The preliminary injunction will remain in place while the lawsuit continues