California Attorney General Rob Bonta has led a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing a Justice Department effort to obtain personal health information from adolescents who received gender-affirming care at Stanford Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif.
The brief, filed June 15, argues that a federal criminal grand jury subpoena issued to Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford seeks information that could be used to restrict access to gender-affirming care in states that permit the treatment.
The coalition contends the subpoena infringes on states’ authority to regulate medical care and could interfere with access to medically necessary healthcare for patients with gender dysphoria.
The dispute follows a series of Justice Department efforts to obtain patient information from providers offering gender-affirming care to minors. According to Mr. Bonta’s office, courts repeatedly quashed administrative subpoenas issued to providers nationwide in 2025. The Justice Department later sought similar information from Stanford Children’s Hospital through a federal criminal grand jury subpoena issued by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas.
A group of current and former patients sued in May to prevent the hospital from disclosing their protected health information and later sought class-action status and a temporary restraining order. The Justice Department has agreed not to seek or obtain protected health information from members of the proposed class until at least June 26.
The filing is the latest in a series of multistate efforts opposing Justice Department subpoenas seeking patient information from providers of gender-affirming care. New York City-based NYU Langone Hospitals said in May that it received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Northern District of Texas seeking information related to patients younger than 18 who received gender-affirming care between 2020 and 2026.
Attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington joined the brief.
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