Parties pause suit challenging NC ban on minors’ gender transition surgeries
Both sides in a legal dispute over North Carolina’s law against gender transition surgeries for minors are asking a federal judge to place the case on hold. They want to wait for a federal Appeals Court to resolve a separate case involving the State Health Plan.
Lawyers representing state legislative leaders filed a motion Thursday for a temporary stay in the case Voe v. Mansfield. The lawsuit challenges House Bill 808, enacted in 2023 over then-Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto.
Neither state lawmakers nor the Voe plaintiffs want to move forward before the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals resolves Kadel v. Folwell and Anderson v. Crouch. The Kadel dispute involves North Carolina State Health Plan coverage for medical treatments typically sought by transgender patients. The Anderson case deals with similar issues in West Virginia.
The US Supreme Court issued a June 30 ruling throwing out the 4th Circuit’s original decisions in both cases. The high court called on appellate judges to reconsider Kadel and Anderson in light of the Supreme Court’s recent Skrmetti decision. That ruling upheld a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender teens.
“Intervenors and Plaintiffs jointly request that the Court stay proceedings in the case, including the Court’s consideration of the preliminary injunction motion and the summary judgment motions, until the Fourth Circuit resolves Kadel and Anderson on remand from the Supreme Court,” according to Thursday’s motion. “Intervenors and Plaintiffs further request that the Court set a schedule for supplemental briefing upon the Fourth Circuit resolving Kadel and Anderson, which the parties anticipate could include a decision on the merits or a further remand to the district court.”
“Plaintiffs also anticipate that they may seek to dismiss or otherwise streamline certain claims upon the Fourth Circuit resolving Kadel and Anderson,” the court filing continued.
The US Department of Justice announced in February that it is no longer fighting HB 808. A letter submitted in federal court indicated the Trump DOJ’s reversal of the Biden administration’s decision to take part in the Voe case.
“The United States hereby notifies the Court that it withdraws its Statement of Interest, filed on October 27th, 2023, as it no longer represents the United States’ position,” according to the DOJ letter.
Signed by Assistant US Attorney Lynne Klauer, the letter also listed Acting US Attorney Randall Galyon, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mac Warner of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and the chief and deputy chief of the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section.
Under Biden, DOJ officials had filed a 2023 court document branding the North Carolina law unconstitutional.
“The North Carolina General Assembly recently enacted a statute that prohibits the provision of, and use of state funds to pay for, medically necessary care to young people because of their sex and because they are transgender,” according to the Biden administration document.
The 27-page document, described as a “statement of interest of the United States of America,” came from US Attorney Sandra Hairston of North Carolina’s Middle District, along with three officials connected to the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section of the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“As a result [of HB 808], medical professionals in North Carolina are prohibited from administering medically necessary care for transgender minors diagnosed with gender Dysphoria — even where the minors’ parents or guardians have consented to such care — while leaving non-transgender minors free to receive the same procedures and treatments,” the 2023 court filing continued. “Similarly, medically necessary care for transgender minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria is excluded from coverage under any publicly funded health insurance or health coverage plan.”
The Biden DOJ’s statement of interest was designed “to advise the Court of its view that, by denying transgender minors — and only transgender minors — access to medically necessary and appropriate care and health coverage, H.B. 808 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Accordingly, Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their equal protection claim.”
The legislation states “It shall be unlawful for a medical professional to perform a surgical gender transition procedure on a minor or to prescribe, provide, or dispense puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to a minor.” The law also created penalties for medical professionals in violation, including revoking medical licenses and opening them up to civil suits from patients. In addition, HB 808 banned any use of state funds for minor sex-change treatments.
In the Senate, the veto override vote followed party lines, with no Democrat voting to override and no Republican voting to sustain. In the House, Democrat Reps. Garland Pierce of Scotland County and Michael Wray of Northampton County voted with Republicans to override.
“In some of the most liberal parts of the country, children are allowed to permanently alter their bodies with off-label drugs for the purpose of changing their sex,” said state Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, in a press release after the override. “While Republicans are protecting minors from such absurd open-door policies, Democrats are siding with the furthest left of their base and putting politics ahead of documented medical risks and consequences. We need to take a cautious approach and limit access to these life-altering medical procedures, and today’s vote to override Gov. Cooper’s veto does just that.”
“Parties pause suit challenging NC ban on minors’ gender transition surgeries” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.
