Judge Blocks Trump DOJ From Accessing Trans Youth Medical Records at NYC Hospitals
The judge said the attempt by the administration was part of an effort to “demonize” trans people.
A judge blocked on Wednesday federal prosecutors from Texas from gaining access to the medical records of trans patients at New York hospitals for now.
In the ruling, Judge Katherine Polk Failla said the attempts were part of the federal government’s effort to “demonize and eradicate an entire population of transgender individuals,” according to the Associated Press.
Failla made the ruling a day after hearing oral arguments in the case in a courtroom in Manhattan.
She called the effort to get the records “most egregious” as well as unconstitutional.
Since taking office for a second term, President Donald Trump and his administration have gone after trans people through executive orders and government policy. More than half of states have restricted or banned gender-affirming care for trans youth, which the Supreme Court has allowed.
Most major medical groups support gender-affirming care for trans people. Gender-affirming care can range from hormone replacement therapy to counseling.
The case began after NYU Langone Hospitals received a federal grand jury subpoena in May demanding the identities and health records of any patient treated for gender dysphoria under age 18 between January 2020 and May 2026 at the time of treatment. They sought the records through an investigation into the “misbranding” of drugs approved by the U.S. government.
The move followed a year-long Department of Justice effort to obtain the same information from hospitals nationwide — an effort repeatedly blocked by federal courts, Lambda Legal notes. In June 2026, Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court on behalf of five transgender patients, arguing the subpoenas violate Fourth and Fifth Amendment privacy rights.
Failla ruled that the DOJ had violated the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution with its subpoenas, according to the AP.
“It is no secret that this administration will use every lever in its power to attack transgender people and fulfill its misguided goal to ‘end’ gender-affirming medical care–care that is legal and protected in New York State,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel and health care strategist at Lambda Legal and a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a press release. “Using subpoenas to attain the identities and sensitive health information of transgender young people to effectuate such goals should send chills down the spine of every American. Our laws and our Constitution recognize that we all have a right to confidentiality about the most intimate and private information about ourselves.”
The next hearing in the case has been set for July 8.
