OLYMPIA, Wash. — A federal judge said Thursday he will rule in favor of Washington state and a coalition of 20 other states and the District of Columbia, blocking what they called an unlawful effort by the Trump administration to pressure health care providers to stop treating transgender youth.
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said in an oral statement after a hearing that he intends to grant the states’ motion for summary judgment. A written order is expected to follow.
The decision would halt actions tied to a directive from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who in December issued a declaration asserting that certain gender-affirming treatments are “unsafe and ineffective.” The declaration also threatened to exclude providers offering such care from Medicaid and Medicare.
Kasubhai said Kennedy exceeded his statutory authority and that the agency failed to follow required rulemaking procedures. He indicated the declaration would be set aside.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, who co-led the lawsuit, called the ruling a significant victory.
“This is a resounding win for the rights of youth, their families, and the rule of law when it comes to medical care,” Brown said in a statement. “The court agrees that the administration ignored the law in its rush to deprive transgender youth of the health care they are legally entitled to.”
The coalition joining Washington includes the attorneys general of Oregon, New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, along with the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania’s governor.
A summary judgment allows a court to decide a case without a full trial when there are no material facts in dispute.
The ruling, once finalized, would preserve access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the states that challenged the federal action.
