Keker, Van Nest & Peters represented Children’s Hospital Colorado in convincing U.S. Magistrate Judge Cyrus Chung to quash a Department of Justice subpoena seeking information about the hospital’s gender-affirming care, Reuters reported.
Judge Chung wrote: “The Executive Brance cannot engage in new lawmaking on its own and, thus, until and unless Congress creates a statute justifying it, a purpose of investigating the legal activity of gender-affirming care – let alone ending it – cannot ground a legitimate investigation.”
The case is part of a broader investigation by the Department of Justice. A week after taking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” directing the DOJ to investigate gender-affirming care. Since then, the DOJ has issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors, clinics, and hospitals, seeking to obtain patient information and details about the treatments they underwent. Judges in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington state have blocked the DOJ’s subpoenas regarding gender-affirming care.
Judge Chung said the subpoena against Children’s Hospital Colorado was an attempt to pressure the hospital into ending transgender care, rather than an investigation of violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), like the DOJ claims.
The Keker team includes attorneys Elliot Peters, Cody Gray, and Aseem Mehta.
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