Upholding the privacy rights of vulnerable children, U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy this evening quashed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) subpoena for the sensitive private medical records of young patients who have received medical treatment for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital. In doing so, the judge also blasted the DOJ as having been “proven unworthy . . . at every point in this case” of the trust expected of federal prosecutors, saying they “misrepresented and withheld information” from the court.
The decision comes after an emergency motion was filed last week by attorneys for the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island (LCRI) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island (ACLU) on behalf of Rhode Island’s Child Advocate. The DOJ’s request to enforce the subpoena for these records was filed by the DOJ and approved, without opportunity for response, by a judge in Texas, not Rhode Island, all in one day at the end of April.
In quashing the subpoena, the judge stated that it “lacks a congressionally authorized purpose, was issued for an improper purpose, and demands the production of records that cannot be obtained consistent with the constitutional privacy rights of Rhode Island children.” The opinion notes that seven other courts across the country have quashed identical subpoenas issued to other providers of medical care for gender dysphoria.
The motion filed by the Child Advocate noted that the medical records being sought by the subpoena “contain the most intimate details imaginable: children’s mental health struggles, experiences with bullying or discrimination, family dynamics, sexual development, gender identity, trauma histories, suicidal ideation, and deeply personal conversations with physicians and therapists.” The judge agreed that “DOJ’s request for intimate medical details from one of this country’s most vulnerable populations constitutes a drastic overreach of its investigative authority.”
During yesterday’s hearing, and in her written decision, Judge McElroy also made clear she believes the DOJ misled the court by not providing all of the facts of the interactions between RI Hospital and the DOJ before the subpoena was issued. She called “unsettling” the “discrepancy between the honorable conduct expected of federal prosecutors and DOJ’s tactics in this case.”
All major medical organizations recognize gender dysphoria — which occurs when there is a conflict between the sex a person is assigned at birth and the gender with which they identify — as a medical condition that can cause significant distress and that appropriate medical care can effectively treat, including in minors.
The motion to quash was filed on behalf of Child Advocate Katelyn Medeiros by LCRI cooperating attorneys Kevin Love Hubbard, Miriam Weizenbaum, and Amy Romero, and ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Lynette Labinger.
A copy of the decision and case documents can be found here.
This news release was edited to add statements from the Child Advocate and attorneys:
Katelyn Medeiros, Rhode Island Child Advocate: “The protections safeguarding these records exist to preserve trust, confidentiality, and the highest standard of care for every child, and defending them is essential to ensuring that no child’s future is harmed by unlawful disclosure. No child or family should ever have to fear that the most intimate details of their lives are subject to unnecessary exposure by the federal government when seeking medical care. This decision establishes an important foundation for future protections, reinforcing that the constitutional rights of children and families must remain paramount in every legal process.
The Office of the Child Advocate is deeply grateful to the extraordinary legal teams at the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island and the ACLU of Rhode Island for their zealous advocacy, unwavering dedication, and tireless work to protect the legal rights of children in state care, and to the Court for its swift decision to prevent the harmful disclosure of confidential medical information. Their commitment to justice and to upholding the highest standards of protection for vulnerable populations, especially children who cannot speak for themselves, reflects the very best of our legal system and the fundamental principle that every child deserves safety, dignity, and respect under the law.”
Kevin Love Hubbard, Lawyers’ Committee of RI: “Yesterday’s ruling protects children in Rhode Island from an extraordinary and improper invasion of their private medical records by a federal government that has publicly condemned lifesaving medical care for gender dysphoria. The government cannot use its subpoena power to intimidate families out of seeking lawful medical care. To trans and gender-diverse children and their families, we want you to know that you are valued, you are not alone, and that LCRI will continue to use every tool available to protect your constitutional rights and the rights of all Rhode Islanders.”
Lynette Labinger, ACLU of RI Cooperating Attorney: “The court’s decision secures the personal, private medical, family, and social records of our most vulnerable children from overreach by the federal government. While the federal government’s campaign is currently directed against a very small minority of the population that it has targeted, its claimed rationale for opening an investigation based on medical practices, as eight federal courts have now held, is not only invalid, but would expose every medical use of life-saving and health-preserving medications to review and attack.”