Appeals court shuts down Texas doctors suing Biden administration over transgender policy

A federal appeals court has ruled against doctors in Texas who tried to sue President Biden’s administration over her illness Transgender policies this week.

The three judges who make up the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals did not rule on the merits of the case, but instead unanimously found that the doctors lacked standing to sue. The court’s decision on Monday confirmed that the doctors did not violate this policy, nor faced any threat to enforce it.

Biden’s policy prohibits discrimination against transgender people in health care. Monday’s ruling overturns an earlier ruling in favor of the doctors by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kaczmarek.

Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services announced a rule change in 2021, choosing to interpret a section of the Affordable Care Act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex to also apply to transgender people. The three Texas doctors argued that the interpretation goes beyond the letter of the law.

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Doctors also argued that the policy could force them to administer treatments they do not support. They cited examples such as prostate cancer in a transgender woman, which requires treatment based on the individual’s biological sex.

The ruling comes just weeks after The Supreme Court heard the arguments In her particular case regarding transgender policy, it concerns whether the Constitution allows for state bans on transgender surgeries for minors.

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The Supreme Court’s conservative justices appeared reluctant in oral arguments to strike down the Tennessee law at issue in the case. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested that state legislatures, not courts, are best equipped to regulate medical procedures. Roberts noted during arguments that the Constitution leaves such questions “to the representatives of the people,” not to nine Supreme Court justices, “none of whom are doctors.”

However, Justice Samuel Alito pointed to “overwhelming evidence” from some medical studies listing negative consequences for teens who undergo gender transition treatments. If the justices rule along partisan lines to uphold the lower court’s decision, it would have sweeping implications for more than 20 US states that have moved to implement similar laws.

The petitioners in the case are represented by the Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit to overturn the Tennessee law on behalf of the parents of three transgender teens and a Memphis-based doctor.

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A topic of discussion during Wednesday’s oral arguments was the level of scrutiny courts should use to evaluate the constitutionality of state bans on transgender medical treatment for minors, such as SB1, and whether such laws are considered to discriminate on the basis of sex or against a “para”-suspect class. “, ensuring a higher level of scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause From the constitution.

Fox News Channel’s Brian Depesch and Reuters contributed to this report.