US appeals court revives Justice Department subpoena

A U.S. federal appeals court handed President Donald Trump's administration a legal victory on Friday in its efforts to seek data from providers of transgender healthcare to minors, reinstating a Justice Department subpoena that a lower court had blocked as politically motivated.

In its ruling, a divided panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a federal judge in Seattle wrongly concluded the Justice Department's subpoena was issued in bad faith in a lawsuit brought by telehealth provider QueerDoc.

QueerDoc provides gender-affirming care for patients, including minors, diagnosed with gender dysphoria, which is distress from a mismatch between a patient's sex at birth and gender identity. The subpoena, part of a wave of similar demands from the Trump administration to hospitals and clinics across the country, sought personnel records, billing information, patient records and other information.

"The President may direct DOJ to exercise its statutory authority in a manner that aligns with his broader policy goals," wrote Circuit Judge Carlos Bea, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush. He was joined by Trump appointee Circuit Judge Daniel Bress. Circuit Judge Richard Paez wrote a dissent.

QueerDoc founder and Chief Executive Crystal Beal in a statement said, "Every patient deserves to know they can seek medical care without fear that their most personal health information will become a tool of political investigation."

Brett Shumate, head of the Justice Department's civil division, said in a post on X that the court's order confirms the agency "can investigate whether hospitals that provide cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to children have complied with federal law because the trans medical industry is not above the law."

After taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order ending federal funding or support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and directing the Justice Department to prioritize investigations into such treatments