Plaintiffs argue that the Trump administration is exceeding its authority by withholding funds already allocated by Congress.
LGBT activist group Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG Inc.), had brought the suit on behalf of seven youths suffering from gender dysphoria, whose treatments were halted as a result of the executive order.
They sued the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS), along with President Donald Trump, former acting HHS head Dorothy Fink, Principal Deputy Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration Diana Espinosa, and National Institutes of Health director Matthew Memoli.
The plaintiffs alleged the executive order was intended “to terrorize hospitals with threats that the government would instantly and unlawfully terminate federal funding outside the ordinary administrative process.”
The government later clarified that the executive order does not “purport to withhold all federal funding if an institution promotes gender ideology” but instructs agencies to find means to implement his policy “to the extent permitted by applicable law.”
Hurson disagreed with this assessment.
He also noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had issued guidance to organizations saying grant recipients “must immediately terminate, to the maximum extent, all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts promoting or inculcating gender ideology at every level and activity” that are being funded by federal grant money.
Hurson also rejected the government’s argument that the suit is premature as the government has not specified which grants it will block.
“Defendants cannot avoid judicial review through a vagueness problem of their own making,” the judge wrote.
