Appeals court sides with Trump in fight over subpoena of
gender-affirming care provider
[August 15, 2026]
By SUDHIN THANAWALA
President Donald Trump's goal of ending gender-affirming care is not
improper and cannot be the basis for quashing a subpoena issued by the
Justice Department against a provider of medical treatment for
transgender youth, a divided federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The Justice Department announced last year that it had issued more than
20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics that provide gender-affirming care
as part of an effort to investigate healthcare fraud. Federal judges
have quashed many of the subpoenas as illegitimate efforts to intimidate
providers into ending care.
In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said
the efficacy and long-term risks of the treatments are "uncertain," and
the president has the power to align the Justice Department's
enforcement priorities with his broader policy goals.
“Every President has law enforcement priorities, just as every President
has signature policies (often, the former are components of the
latter)," Judge Carlos Bea wrote.
Bea, a nominee of Republican President George W. Bush, was joined in the
opinion by Daniel Bress, a Trump nominee. They reversed a ruling that
quashed the subpoena against telemedicine provider QueerDoc, sending the
case back to the district court to consider other arguments.
The subpoena seeks QueerDoc's personnel files, billing documents,
communications with drug manufacturers and records of patients who were
prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy, among other information,
according to the 9th Circuit decision.
American Civil Liberties Union attorney Adrien Leavitt, who represented
Washington state-based QueerDoc, said the ACLU would continue fighting
the subpoena in district court. QueerDoc has also argued the subpoena is
overbroad and burdensome. The Justice Department has said it has reason
to believe the company may be misleading people about puberty blockers
and hormones.
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 "We’re ready to continue defending
one of the most fundamental principles of healthcare: every
patient’s right to confidential medical care,” Leavitt said in a
statement.
He said the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit was the first appeals
court to weigh in on the subpoenas.
Trump has signed one executive order defining sex as only male or
female — and as unchangeable — and another that seeks to end federal
funding of gender-affirming care for patients under 19. The latter
order also directs the Justice Department to “prioritize
investigations” into violations of a drug safety law by “any entity
that may be misleading the public about long-term side effects of
chemical and surgical mutilation.”
Gender-affirming care includes a range of medical and mental health
services to support a person’s gender identity, including when it’s
different from the sex they were assigned at birth. It encompasses
counseling, medications that block puberty and hormone therapy to
produce physical changes as well as surgeries to transform chests
and genitals, though those are rare for minors.
Most major medical groups say access to the treatment is important
for those with gender dysphoria and see gender as existing along a
spectrum.
The 9th Circuit majority called discussion around gender-affirming
care "an unsettled scientific debate," and said the Trump
administration could also justify its opposition to the treatment on
ethical or philosophical grounds.
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