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A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order restricting health care for transgender youth in the latest example of the judiciary halting the president’s actions.
Trump’s order signed last month states: “It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
Families of transgender children and PFLAG sued the Trump administration on February 4, calling the executive order “unlawful and unconstitutional.” The plaintiffs asked for an injunction to block enforcement of the order.
U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson blocked it from taking effect during a hearing Thursday.
“This is a population with an extremely higher rate for suicide, poverty, unemployment, drug addiction,” Hurson said, according to the Washington Post. Abruptly stopping their health treatments, would be “horribly dangerous for anyone, for any care, but particularly for this extremely vulnerable population.”
Thursday’s ruling is the latest case in which a judge ruled against the Trump administration.
In a separate court, a federal judge on Thursday extended a temporary block on the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development employees on leave.
A series of judges have also blocked Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
