Court rejects Texas doctors' lawsuit against Biden admin over transgender discrimination policies
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 04: A transgender rights supporter takes part in a rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court as the high court hears arguments in a case on transgender health rights on December 04, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court is
A federal appeals court ruled two Texas doctors did not have standing to sue the Biden administration over its transgender discrimination policies.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the two doctors had not violated the non-discrimination policy of the administration, nor were the doctors under any threat of enforcement of the policy from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Biden administration, in 2021, interpreted a section of the Affordable Care Act that banned discrimination against a person because of their sex to include transgender people.
The doctors argued that the policy could require them to perform medical treatments that they do not support or perform treatments based on the patient's biological sex.
"Plaintiffs themselves do not view their conduct as gender-identity discrimination, nor do they offer any evidence that HHS will view it as such," the court argued.
The court said the doctors had "valid, non-discriminatory" reasons, such as avoiding malpractice or providing services beyond their specialties.
"Plaintiffs have thus failed to show that they are actually violating the Notification, much less that they face a credible threat of enforcement," the court wrote.
Reversals in protections for transgender people
During the Obama administration, policies were put in place that protected transgender people from sex discrimination in health care.
In 2020, the Trump administration overturned those policies, defining gender as a person's biological sex. The Obama administration defined sex as "one's internal sense of gender, which may be male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female."
In reestablishing the protections for transgender people, the Biden administration said the healthcare policy would bring the policy in line with workplace sex discrimination policies that extend protection to transgender people.
The doctors sued after the policies were reinstated, worried they may lose federal Medicare and Medicaid funding if they refused to provide treatments they did not support.
HHS argued the doctors faced no risk since the policy did not require doctors to work outside their specialty or treat patients contrary to medical judgement.
The ruling comes two weeks after the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether a Tennessee law that prevents gender-affirming care for minors is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.