Judge blocks Justice Department's transgender care subpoena to hospital

10/9/2025 12:07

A federal judge on Tuesday quashed a subpoena the U.S. Department of Justice had issued to Boston Children's Hospital as part of a wide-ranging investigation into doctors and clinics that provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth.



U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston wrote that the subpoena was too broad and reflected the wider goals of Republican President Donald Trump's administration, which "has been explicit about its disapproval of the transgender community."



He said the administration had been clear that it seeks to bring an end to medical providers like Boston Children's Hospital, one of the nation's largest pediatric hospitals, providing gender-affirming care to patients.



The real goal of the subpoena, Joun said, was to interfere with Massachusetts' right to protect gender-affirming care within its borders, to intimidate the hospital to stop providing such care and to dissuade patients from seeking it.



"The Government may be correct that it need not provide probable cause for its investigations, but it cannot use its subpoena power to go on a fishing expedition," Joun wrote.