A federal judge appointed by President Biden has moved to block a Trump administration declaration that transgender medical procedures on children are neither safe nor effective.
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai, based in Oregon, issued the verbal ruling Thursday after more than a dozen Democratic attorneys general challenged the policy. A written decision is expected to follow.
The declaration in question was issued in December 2025 by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It stated that “sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors, and therefore, fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care.”
Kasubhai sided with the attorneys general, saying Kennedy had not followed required administrative procedures before issuing the declaration. “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,” the judge said from the bench, as per the Associated Press.
The Trump administration had argued the document was a general statement of policy, not a binding rule requiring formal rulemaking procedures.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the decision. “Health care services for transgender young people remain legal, and the federal government cannot intimidate or punish the providers who offer them,” James said. “I will always fight for the LGBTQ+ community.”
The ruling puts on hold a federal declaration that covered puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures including mastectomies and vaginoplasties performed on minors.
The administration’s effort to cut off federal funding for providers of these treatments remains a separate track. In December, HHS posted rules to bar hospitals performing transgender procedures on minors from participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs. That action would also prohibit Medicaid’s Children’s Health Insurance Program from covering such procedures for individuals under 19.
The Oregon ruling does not affect those funding restrictions, which are being challenged in separate litigation.
