Another week, another bully pulpit true to its name. Amidst the chaos of Unconstitutional deportations, funding freezes, and more, the Trump administration continues its attack on some of the most vulnerable among us: children. Specifically, Trans kids, who currently fear for their lives as the adults turn their backs on them, and as they become the latest focus of a hateful Administration, despite their population hovering at less than 1% of the US.
On January 28, 2025, Trump signed an Executive Order titled, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” The title along is misinformation, and the Order calls lifesaving gender-affirming care “mutilation,” and falls on myth, not facts, to make its points:
“Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.”
“Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding.”
“The blatant harm done to children by chemical and surgical mutilation cloaks itself in medical necessity, spurred by guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which lacks scientific integrity.”
Enter the Federal Judiciary
In a suit brought by Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (“PFLAG”), the United States District Court for the District of Maryland granted a TRO on February 13, 2025, blocking the Trump Administration from “blocking or withholding federal funding on the fact that a healthcare entity or health professional provides gender affirming medical care to a patient under the age of nineteen[.]”
As a reminder, TROs are for emergencies, where there is a “likelihood of irreparable harm” without them. Accrordingly, they are not permanent orders; in fact, they last 14 days. Essentially, they stop the bleeding until the Courts can figure out the issue.
In its Order, the Court requires the Trump Administration to provide notice to its agencies of the Order, and to provide a status report to the Court, confirming its compliance with the Order “on or before February 20, 2025.”
A Second Federal Judge Agrees
On February 14, a second federal judge issued an injunction regarding the same Executive Order. The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington reviewed a complaint brought by Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota, as well as anonymous doctors and patients. Judge Lauren King granted the TRO. While the Order is short and sweet, as reported by the Washington State Standard, Judge King observed from the bench the Executive Order is unlikely to withstand “constitutional scrutiny.”
Indeed, halting lifesaving care should violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In the background of these extraordinary, emergency judicial actions, U.S. v. Skrmetti looms. The case, pending with the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) since oral argument this past December, is expected to be decided in June 2025, and poses the question: Is it Constitutional to permit states to deny care to Transgender youth?
To read an analysis of Skrmetti, check out UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute.