\n A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from obtaining sensitive medical records from healthcare institutions in New York City that provided gender identity care to minors in recent years.\n <\/p>\n
\n The ruling<\/a> from US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla is a significant blow to the administration\u2019s ongoing nationwide criminal investigation into the provision of gender identity care, which numerous courts around the country have described as an improper fishing expedition<\/a> because the government has struggled to identify potential crimes by providers.\n <\/p>\n \n Ruling from the bench on Wednesday, Failla, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, provisionally certified a class comprised of individuals who had received care from a New York City provider over the past six years. She also issued a temporary restraining order that bars investigators from obtaining the records, including through a grand jury subpoena that had been issued to NYU Langone Hospitals in recent weeks.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe scope of information sought by the government here, which includes medical assessments, diagnoses, informed consent records, and revelation of plaintiffs\u2019 transgender status, is significant,\u201d she said, adding that that type of information is \u201csquarely within the class of intimate materials warranting the strongest constitutional protection.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cBecause I cannot conceive of a crime that would require the breadth of disclosures in the subpoena \u2013 identifying and sensitive medical information for an entire class of people for a six-year period \u2013 I have to find that the government\u2019s interest does not outweigh the plaintiffs\u2019 interest in privacy,\u201d Failla said.\n <\/p>\n \n In siding against the administration, the judge pointed to statements made by Justice Department attorneys to her a day earlier that appeared to leave open the possibility that prosecutors may use the records to criminally pursue patients or their parents.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m hard pressed for reasons to rely on the government\u2019s representations that even the patients would not be prosecuted, especially given the inability to comment on any aspect of the alleged investigation or the subpoena,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Failla is now among a growing group of judges who have sounded the alarm on the Trump administration\u2019s probe and its investigatory tactics.\n <\/p>\n \n In ruling after ruling over the past year, judges appointed by presidents from both parties have criticized the probe as an effort aimed not at prosecuting a legitimate crime but rather a bid to pressure institutions to stop providing the care, which is not illegal at the federal level but has been heavily restricted in GOP-led states. Those judges had blocked administrative subpoenas that were issued to providers around the country.\n <\/p>\n \n In the case at hand, parents of several children who received the treatments in New York City asked Failla to stop the records from being turned over because they feared the information\u2019s disclosure could expose them to retaliation by the Trump administration.\n <\/p>\n \n The subpoena issued to NYU through a federal grand jury in Texas asked the hospital to turn over documents \u201csufficient to identify every patient who underwent sex-rejecting procedures\u201d and all the records related to those individuals \u201cfrom initial consultation to the most recent treatment provided.\u201d It also compelled the hospital to produce records pertaining to authorizations from parents for their minor children to receive such care.\n <\/p>\n