A Texas appeals court on Monday reinstated an injunction blocking a state company from investigating parents whose transgender youngsters obtain gender-affirming care.
The Texas Third Court of Appeals dominated on a movement filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Lambda Legal, which had filed a lawsuit on behalf of a transgender teen’s parents who had been being investigated for attainable baby abuse by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum dominated this month {that a} Feb. 22 directive by Gov. Greg Abbott to analyze the parents of transgender youngsters for baby abuse was unconstitutional and an overreach of the governor’s authority, which threatened to violate the separation of powers “by impermissibly encroaching into the legislative domain.”
Texas appealed the ruling, with state Attorney General Ken Paxton saying Meachum’s order was “frozen,” permitting investigations to renew.
The appeals court reinstated Meachum’s injunction Monday, writing that legal professionals difficult Abbott’s order had sufficiently demonstrated that allowing the Department of Family and Protective Services to analyze gender-affirming care as baby abuse would end in irreparable hurt.
“Having reviewed the record, we conclude that reinstating the temporary injunction is necessary to maintain the status quo and preserve the rights of all parties,” the appeals court wrote.
Abbott wrote final month that gender-affirming procedures “constitute child abuse under existing Texas law” and referred to as on Family and Protective Services to analyze the parents of transgender kids receiving gender-affirming care.
Monday’s ruling means any investigations will likely be paused whereas the case goes to trial.