Judge Boasberg weighs curbing Trump FTC demand for trans minors’ data after heated court clash

Lawyers for a coalition of medical groups on Tuesday urged a federal judge to block the Trump administration's effort to access data on transgender procedures for minors, arguing the FTC demand is unconstitutional and retaliatory.

The case marks a high-stakes legal clash over the Trump administration’s investigation into transgender treatments for minors, with the FTC arguing it is policing potential consumer harm while medical groups say the probe is politically motivated and unconstitutional.

At issue in the lawsuits, filed by the Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics, is the FTC's demand for information from the groups regarding "pediatric gender dysphoria treatment[s]" they provided, according to the FTC, and whether the organizations engaged in false advertising or unfair practices as part of the process.

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The FTC in January launched an investigation into the medical groups, and issued the Civil Investigative Demand, or CID, that prompted the lawsuit.

During back-to-back hearings Tuesday, lawyers for the medical groups urged U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the FTC's wide-ranging demand for information.

Plaintiffs argued the effort by the FTC was not a legitimate consumer protection effort, but rather a political effort to crack down on transgender procedures for minors and retaliate against the organizations for providing them. 

"Unable to prevail in the marketplace of ideas, the FTC has resorted to burdening AAP with an intrusive and expensive investigation that is unconstitutional and outside the scope of the FTC’s statutory authority," lawyers for the pediatricians' group told the court. 

Lawyers for the Trump administration sharply disputed that notion, however. They argued that the FTC has a mandate to ensure consumers are not misled — including in cases when medical procedures are provided to minors. 

Boasberg used the hearing to grapple with concerns about the scope of the FTC's wide-ranging demand, broader constitutional concerns, as well as the administration's assertion that the court lacked reviewability to consider the matter entirely.

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Justice Department lawyer John Bailey said any concerns about the scope or limitations of the FTC action should play out via the typical "agency administrative agency process" recognized by the Supreme Court. 

"So the answer is no, that I must quash it or let it proceed — that I have no power to narrow?" Boasberg asked, clarifying.

"My answer, respectfully, would be that you have to let this proceed within the typical agency administrative process," Bailey responded. 

Boasberg ultimately adjourned court without ruling from the bench, though he indicated he would move quickly on the matter.

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The hearings come as Trump takes steps to limit gender transition procedures for minors in his second term.

Shortly after taking office last January, Trump signed an executive order, "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," which cut off federal support for transgender procedures for minors. Last year, the Health and Human Services Department proposed a new rule to strip federal Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals that provide "sex‑rejecting procedures" for children under the age of 18. 

Concerns over the regulations have prompted dozens of hospitals to shutter their transgender treatment programs in fear of losing federal funding.