A federal judge in Rhode Island blocked the Justice Department from obtaining records related to minors who received gender-affirming care at Rhode Island Hospital, ruling the subpoena lacked a congressionally authorized purpose and violated patients’ constitutional privacy rights.
In a ruling issued May 13, U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy granted emergency motions filed by Rhode Island’s child advocate and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence to quash an administrative subpoena issued by the Justice Department as part of what the court described as a nationwide investigation into gender-affirming care for minors.
The subpoena sought patient information including names, Social Security numbers, diagnoses, clinical histories and family information tied to minors who received gender-affirming care at the hospital, according to the ruling.
Ms. McElroy also barred the Justice Department from “receiving, using, retaining, or disseminating” identifying patient information obtained through the subpoena.
The Justice Department argued the records were relevant to an investigation into potential violations of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act involving the off-label use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
But Ms. McElroy rejected that argument, writing that federal law permits physicians to prescribe approved drugs for off-label uses and concluding the department’s legal theory was not supported under existing law.
“The subpoena therefore lacks a congressionally authorized purpose and must be quashed,” Ms. McElroy wrote.
The opinion also sharply criticized the Justice Department’s conduct during the investigation. Ms. McElroy wrote that Justice Department attorneys “misrepresented and withheld information” from courts and accused the agency of attempting to avoid judicial scrutiny by filing enforcement proceedings in Texas rather than Rhode Island.
The judge also concluded the subpoena was issued for an improper purpose and would violate minors’ constitutional privacy rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
In the opinion, Ms. McElroy cited public statements criticizing gender-affirming care for minors and referenced decisions from seven other federal courts that had considered similar subpoenas.
“But the discrepancy between the honorable conduct expected of federal prosecutors and DOJ’s tactics in this case is unsettling,” she wrote.
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