Judge Extends Halt to Trump's Transgender Care Orders

President Trump's plan to pull federal funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care for transgender youth will remain blocked on a long-term basis under a federal judge's ruling in Seattle late Friday. US District Judge Lauren King previously granted a two-week restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota sued the Trump administration. Colorado has since joined the case. King's temporary order expired Friday, and she held arguments that day before issuing a preliminary injunction blocking most of Trump's plan pending a final decision on the merits of the case, the AP reports.

Two of Trump's executive orders are at issue:

• "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism," calls for stripping federal money from programs that "promote gender ideology."
• "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," calls for the federal government to cut off research and educational grants for institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, that provide gender-affirming care to people under age 19. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care, including puberty blockers and hormone treatments, following the order.

Medicaid programs in some states cover gender-affirming care, and Trump's "Protecting Children" order suggests that practice could end. It also raises the prospect that medical professionals could be criminally charged for providing gender-affirming care under a law that bans medically unnecessary genital mutilation of underage females—a notion that the states suing Trump call repugnant and legally unsupportable.

The four attorneys general argued that the orders violate equal rights protections, the separation of powers, and the states' right to regulate issues not delegated to the federal government, per the AP. The Trump administration disputed those claims in court filings. "The President's authority to direct subordinate agencies to implement his agenda, subject to those agencies' own statutory authorities, is well established," Justice Department attorneys wrote. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown praised the ruling. "The president's disregard for the Constitution is obvious and intentional," he said in a statement. The judge found the states lacked standing on one point: the order's protections against female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation is already illegal in the four states. (Iowa has ended its gender identity protections.)