Attorney General Bonta Joins Multistate Opposition to U.S. DOJ’s Attempt to Subpoena Gender-Affirming Care Records

Records sought by U.S. DOJ are outrageously expansive, seek to intimidate those providing and receiving gender-affirming care 

U.S. DOJ subpoena includes unprecedented interpretation of federal law that could expose doctors to criminal liability for offering evidence-based treatments

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced joining a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The brief opposes the Trump Administration’s motion to reconsider the court’s ruling quashing in its entirety the U.S. Department of Justice’s (U.S. DOJ) subpoena for documents, including patient records, related to gender affirming care at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). 

“From President Trump to the U.S. Department of Justice, the entirety of the federal government is attacking gender-affirming care — even in states, like California, that support the rights of transgender youth to live their lives as their authentic selves,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We will not bow down to any of those unlawful actions, no matter where they are happening. We are asking the federal district court in Massachusetts to, once again, reject the Trump Administration’s subpoena seeking information related to gender affirming care. The records sought by the U.S. Department of Justice are outrageously expansive and seek to intimidate those providing and receiving gender-affirming care.” 

Since taking office, the Trump Administration has attempted to end lawful medical care that it disfavors. On day one, President Trump issued an Executive Order declaring gender identity a “false” idea. A week later, the President issued another Executive Order attempting to strip federal funding from institutions that provide lifesaving gender-affirming care for young people under the age of 19, with the ultimate goal of ending all gender-affirming care for adolescents. In April, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo directing U.S. DOJ to investigate healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies that engage in gender affirming care.

On June 11, U.S. DOJ sent BCH an administrative subpoena, seeking information and documents relating to the hospital’s provision of gender-affirming care. This subpoena sought a broad range of highly sensitive and confidential records related to both patients and providers. For example, U.S. DOJ is seeking personnel records for nearly all BCH employees and extensive patient records, such as their social security numbers and home addresses.

On September 9, a federal judge voided U.S. DOJ’s subpoena in its entirety, ruling that it was clearly an attempt to interfere with Massachusetts’s right to protect gender-affirming care within its borders and to intimidate BCH and its patients from providing and seeking gender-affirming care. The Trump Administration has now filed a motion for the Court to set aside its ruling.

In their brief, the attorneys general urge the court to uphold its prior ruling quashing U.S. DOJ’s subpoena. They argue that:

• The federal government is clearly seeking to intimidate medical providers from offering critical and medically necessary care to transgender youth, even in states like California where such care is legal and protected.
• As part of this subpoena request, for the first time ever, U.S. DOJ is interpreting the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) as outlawing medical providers from prescribing FDA approved medications to their patients for off label use. If U.S. DOJ’s interpretation of the FDCA were accepted, entire fields of medicine could see their practitioners at risk of criminal conviction merely for offering routine, evidence-based treatments. As the amicus brief points out, some studies estimate that as much as 80% of drugs prescribed for children are prescribed for off-label uses. 

The states submitting today’s brief have enacted their own laws, policies, and protections for transgender residents, including transgender youth under the age of 19. California has enacted laws recognizing the right to access gender-affirming care and shielding people who access or provide gender-affirming care from civil or criminal penalties by out-of-state jurisdictions. 

Joining Attorney General Bonta in submitting the amicus brief are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. 

A copy of the amicus brief can be foud here.