Trans minors sue to stop Justice Department access to medical records

As the Trump administration escalates its efforts to obtain the medical records of transgender adolescents from many of the nation’s major children’s hospitals, patients and their parents are asking federal courts to intervene, arguing that the government is seeking the information under a false pretext and in violation of their constitutional rights.

On Tuesday, a group of transgender young people sued the Justice Department, urging a federal judge in New York City to block a criminal subpoena that a federal prosecutor in Texas has issued to NYU Langone, the hospital where they were treated. The subpoena instructs hospital officials to appear before a grand jury this month with documents “sufficient to identify each patient” younger than 18 who received gender-related treatments since 2020.

Last week, six families sued the Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford in California, asking a federal judge in San Jose to bar the hospital from complying with a similar subpoena demanding data on young transgender patients.

The legal battles reflect a mounting standoff between the Trump administration and many young transgender patients and their families.

The government has said it is acting on behalf of patients and families as it investigates whether health providers and drug companies have illegally promoted off-label use of medications or used fraudulent billing practices to secure insurance coverage for gender-related treatments to minors.

In court documents, government lawyers allude to the need to protect families who may be misled about the risks and effectiveness of gender medications. President Donald Trump has repeatedly described gender-transition treatments for minors as “mutilation.” In a memo authorizing the investigation in April 2025, Pam Bondi, then the attorney general, vowed to “hold accountable those who prey on vulnerable children and their parents.”

Transgender young people and their parents argue that the Justice Department is acting in bad faith, to intimidate hospitals into suspending services that are permitted by their states’ laws and to carry out the Trump administration’s policy goals, which include ending medical transition treatments for adolescents. In addition to concerns about how the government might use private health information, parents said they fear that their children’s records will be held up as part of an investigation that ultimately aims to deny them medical treatment.

A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on grand jury subpoenas or activities.