In PFLAG, Inc. v. Trump, (D MD, March 4, 2025), a Maryland federal district court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against enforcement of provisions in two Executive Orders that threaten to cut off federal funding to medical institutions that offer gender-affirming care to individuals under 19 years of age. The court found that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on three claims, saying in part:
Because the Executive Orders direct agencies to withhold funding on a condition that Congress has not authorized, the President has exceeded his authority. The Plaintiffs have thus sufficiently shown likelihood of success on the merits of their ultra vires claim that the Executive Orders violate the separation of powers....
Plaintiffs accurately note that the Executive Orders foist upon hospitals receiving federal funds an impossible choice: (I) keep providing medical care to transgender patients under the age of nineteen in compliance with the anti-discrimination statutes and risk losing federal funding under the Executive Orders, or (2) stop providing care on the basis of trans gender identity in violation of the statutes, but in compliance with the EOs. Because the challenged portions of the Executive Orders are facially discriminatory on the basis of transgender identity, and therefore sex under Kadel and Bostock, in violation of Section 1557 of the ACA and Section 1908 of the PHSA, the Court finds that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their ultra vires statutory claim....
Guided and bound by Fourth Circuit's analysis in Kadel, and with a barer record than the one before the Fourth Circuit there, the Court is compelled to find that the Executive Orders' effective ban on all gender-affirming care for those under nineteen by federally funded institutions is not substantially related to the important government interest of protecting children. As such, Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their Equal Protection claim....
Last month, the court issued a nation-wide temporary restraining order in the case. (See prior posting.) ACLU issued a press release announcing yesterday's decision.
