Trump-appointed judges reject White House’s latest effort to obtain medical records of trans youth
A federal appeals court panel consisting of a majority of Trump appointees dealt a setback to the White House’s efforts to obtain medical records of trans youth in New York City on Aug. 26. The three-judge panel of the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan denied the Department of Justice’s request to stay … Read More
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A federal appeals court panel consisting of a majority of Trump appointees dealt a setback to the White House’s efforts to obtain medical records of trans youth in New York City on Aug. 26.
The three-judge panel of the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan denied the Department of Justice's request to stay a lower court order that shielded the records of trans youth from the Trump administration.
Two of the three judges — Richard Sullivan and William J. Nardini — were appointed by Trump during his first term, while the third judge, Alison Nathan, was appointed by President Joe Biden.
“This is a tremendous relief to New York families who have to navigate the fear of their private medical information being seized by a federal government hostile to their children,” Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project, said in a written statement. “These subpoenas are an unwarranted effort to violate the hallowed relationship between a parent and their child’s doctor in a transparent effort to end medical care for transgender young people and target transgender people for discrimination. We will continue to oppose this effort by the administration and we will always stand up for the privacy and autonomy rights of those who are targeted for discrimination by the government.”
The latest legal development comes three months after NYU Langone was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Texas seeking the identities and health information about minors who were treated for gender dysphoria at the hospital between January of 2020 and May of 2026. Even before that point, the Trump administration had been pursuing the same kind of health information from hospitals around the country, while also pushing executive orders in a bid to force providers to cave to the administration’s demands to stop providing gender-affirming care to minors.
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and Lambda Legal joined together to file a lawsuit on behalf of three families with trans youth and two trans adults who were minors within the 2020-2026 timeframe targeted by the Trump administration.
A district judge subsequently granted their bids for a preliminary injunction, which restricted the Trump administration's Department of Justice from obtaining their health information via subpoenas targeting NYU Langone, Mount Sinai, and other providers. The plaintiffs have maintained that the DOJ's efforts to obtain the information violate their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure and Fifth Amendment rights to informational privacy.
“Today’s order by the court of appeals preserves the district court’s order prohibiting the government from seeking the identities and sensitive health information of transgender young people and their families who sought care in New York City,” Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel and healthcare strategist at Lambda Legal, said in a written statement. “The government cannot weaponize the legal system and the use of subpoenas, whether through a grand jury or otherwise, to collect the most private medical information of transgender young people and their families, in violation of the right to privacy guaranteed by our Constitution. Every family should be able to make healthcare decisions without fear of political interference or exposure. While this fight is far from over, we are grateful for today’s decision and will continue fighting for the rights and privacy of transgender people and their families.”
The latest news comes just days after a panel of the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit voted 2-1 to reverse a decision blocking the DOJ's subpoena of QueerDocLLP, a website that provides referrals for gender-affirming care, in an attempt to obtain information about their clients.
