The Trump administration has dropped the federal government’s involvement in a Biden-era lawsuit targeting Alabama’s ban on the prescribing of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones for trans-identified children.
In a joint stipulation of dismissal filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division, the administration agreed to end its involvement in the lawsuit of Brianna Boe, et al. v. Steve Marshall, et al.
“The United States consents to this Court’s jurisdiction solely to the extent necessary to resolve any motion by Defendants to unseal and/or authenticate documents produced by the United States in discovery in this case if the matter cannot be resolved without court intervention,” the court document stated.
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The federal government previously intervened in the case under President Joe Biden, whose Justice Department expressed opposition to several similar state-level laws.
Jonathan Scruggs of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that supports state bans like Alabama’s, released a statement celebrating the dismissal.
“In a refreshing return to sanity, the federal government is proving its commitment to protecting children from radical gender ideology that has devastated countless lives,” Scruggs said.
“Alabama rightly enacted a law that protects children’s health and welfare — supporting their natural biological development and ensuring that children experiencing gender dysphoria have a chance for comprehensive healing and compassionate mental-health support.”
In April 2022, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law banning so-called gender transition surgeries and puberty drugs for minors, also known as the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, originally scheduled to take effect that May.
LGBT advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of multiple families living in Alabama who have trans-identified children.
Groups representing the families included the Human Rights Campaign, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center, King & Spalding LLP, and Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC.
U.S. District Judge Liles Burke, a Trump appointee, issued a preliminary injunction in May 2022 that blocked enforcement of the ban on experimental drugs. His decision kept the surgical ban in place.
However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit overruled the injunction in August 2023. In January 2024, the full appeals court removed the injunction while litigation on the case continued.
The LGBT advocacy groups representing the families issued a joint statement denouncing the decision to lift the injunction.
“The district court issued its preliminary order blocking the ban after hearing days of testimony from parents, doctors, and medical experts about the devastating impact of this ban and the lack of any medical justification for it,” they stated.
“Today’s ruling will hurt parents and children in the state. We will continue to challenge this unlawful ban and to support parents and their kids in pushing back against the dangerous reality of being denied access to necessary, best practice medical care.”
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