Trump Administration Asks Court For Time To Reconsider Enjoined HHS Ruling on Transgender Rights

As previously reported, in December a Texas federal district court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction barring enforcement of a regulation issued by the Obama administration under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or termination of pregnancy in health care programs that receive federal financial assistance. Yesterday the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) filed a motion (full text) with the court asking that instead of moving ahead with briefing in the case, the court, while keeping its injunction in place, remand the matter to HHS for it to reconsider the rule.  The government argued in its motion that Trump Administration leadership should now "be given an opportunity to reevaluate the regulation and address the issues raised in this litigation."  Rewire reports on developments. This is one of a number of cases in the courts raising the question of whether civil rights laws that ban discrimination on the basis of "sex" cover discrimination on the basis of gender identity. (See prior posting.)