US Urges Appeals Courts to Unblock Trump Transgender Care Orders

Two federal appeals courts must lift multiple statewide blocks on President Donald Trump‘s executive orders that directed federal agencies not to fund gender-affirming care for young people, the administration said.

The president’s authority includes directing agencies to exercise their funding discretion in particular ways, Justice Department attorneys told the US Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and Ninth Circuits in separate but substantially similar briefs July 25.

The lower courts’ rulings that the orders likely violate constitutional separation-of-powers principles are incorrect, they said.

The cases are among the myriad lawsuits challenging executive orders Trump issued in the early days ...