Judge blocks Trump admin's subpoena of trans kids' medical records from Boston hospital

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's attempt to subpoena medical records of transgender patients who received gender-affirming care at Boston Children's Hospital

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's attempt to subpoena medical records of transgender patients who received gender-affirming care at Boston Children's Hospital.

In a ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun said the administrative subpoena served by the U.S. Department of Justice was improper and "motivated only by bad faith."

The Justice Department said the information was needed to investigate possible fraud or unlawful off-label promotion of drugs, but the information requested — including actual patient records — seemed to be unrelated, the judge said. Phone messages left with the Justice Department's attorney Ross Goldstein and with a Justice Department public affairs officer were not immediately returned.

"The Administration has been explicit about its disapproval of the transgender community and its aim to end GAC," Joun wrote, referring to gender-affirming care. The judge later continued, "It is abundantly clear that the true purpose of issuing the subpoena is to interfere with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' right to protect GAC within its borders, to harass and intimidate BCH to stop providing such care, and to dissuade patients from seeking such care."

Just eight days after taking office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at restricting access to medical care for transgender youth. In June, the Justice Department's Civil Division announced the division would use "all available resources to prioritize investigations of doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and other appropriate entities," in an effort to investigate what it called "radical gender experimentation."