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A federal judge in Oregon ruled on Thursday that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. overreached in his push to restrict transgender health care for minors, according to multiple outlets.
Judge Mustafa Kasubhai, an appointee of former President Biden, reportedly found Kennedy did not adhere to proper administrative procedures when he declared in December that gender-affirming health care for transgender youth was “neither safe nor effective.”
The HHS chief’s written declaration also asserted that physicians who provided the treatment, including hormones and surgeries, “will be deemed not to meet professionally recognized standards of health care.”
“The notion that ‘I will go forward and issue a declaration and see if we can get away with it’ is not a principle of governance that adheres to the overarching commitment to a democratic republic that requires the rule of law to be regarded and respected and honored as a sacred,” Kasubhai said during the six-hour hearing, according to The New York Times.
The judge also rejected the federal government’s motion to dismiss the case, The Associated Press reported. A written decision is expected to follow the verbal order.
The HHS did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
A coalition of Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration about a week after Kennedy issued his declaration, calling it “arbitrary” and unlawful because the public was not provided an opportunity to comment on the policy before it was made.
The state attorneys general also argued that the authority to regulate the practice of medicine rested with states, not the federal government.
“The freedom to make personal healthcare decisions – with your family and your doctor – is a fundamental Oregon value,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (D) said in a statement on the ruling. “It’s rooted in our belief that every person deserves dignity, compassion, and care.”
“The court saw through the federal government’s attempt to bully hospitals and providers into abandoning their patients, and ruled on the side of those values.”
The effort came amid a broader push from the Trump administration to curtail gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Shortly after issuing the declaration, the HHS said it was launching an investigation into Seattle Children’s Hospital’s treatment practices, threatening to withhold the hospital’s Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Kasubhai’s ruling represents another legal blow to the HHS, which was blocked earlier this week from reducing the number of recommended vaccines for children and implementing other changes to vaccine policy.
The judge in that case also found that Kennedy likely violated federal law when he fired 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last year and replaced them with his own picks.
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