Trump officials were so extreme in transgender health case that a Texas judge hit pause

A federal judge in Texas has paused consideration of an emergency request in the Trump administration’s lawsuit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health after an unusual confrontation between two federal courts over where the fight should proceed, Law Dork first reported.U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee in the Northern District of Texas, canceled a July 7 hearing on the Federal Trade Commission’s request and said he would wait for Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to rule first in WPATH’s related D.C. lawsuit challenging the FTC’s earlier investigative demand.The move is striking because O’Connor has been receptive to conservative legal challenges, including cases targeting LGBTQ+ protections and federal health policy. This time, however, he slowed the administration’s attempt to limit WPATH’s ability to seek relief in another federal court.Related: Republican states join Trump FTC in lawsuit against world’s leading transgender health care groupThe FTC, joined by attorneys general for Texas and Iowa, asked O’Connor late Thursday to bar WPATH from seeking relief in any court other than O’Connor’s court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court, according to Law Dork. The request would have effectively stopped WPATH from pursuing relief before Boasberg, who had already issued a major ruling against the FTC in May.At the time, Boasberg granted preliminary injunctions to WPATH and the Endocrine Society, temporarily halting FTC investigations that the groups argued were politically motivated and unconstitutional. As The Advocate previously reported, the FTC had issued civil investigative demands seeking years of internal records, communications, financial information, conference materials, and documents related to medical guidance on transgender care.Boasberg was sharply critical of the administration’s motives. In the WPATH