Joe Biden Suffers Legal Blow in Texas
Ken Paxton celebrated a "huge win" on Wednesday after new Biden administration rules which he claimed would require states to pay for gender-affirming healthcare were put on hold by a judge.Judge Jeremy Kernodle, from the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, said federal authorities are "attempting to impose a sweeping new social policy by manipulating and perverting the statutory text" which he said could cause "irreparable harm."The case was brought by the Republican-dominated states of Texas and Montana in June after the Biden administration introduced a new interpretation of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act which bans discrimination based on gender in healthcare provision.
In March, new rules were issued by the Department of Health and Human Services which extended this ban on discrimination to cover transgender people.
Healthcare providers who ignore the rules can face a range of enforcement measures from being required to undergo additional training to being stripped of federal funding.Paxton argued this would force state authorities and healthcare providers to pay for gender transition procedures against their will and accused the federal government of "trying to sidestep the Constitution."In his ruling, Judge Kernodle said the extension of anti-discrimination protections in the Affordable Care Act would "require healthcare providers and States to perform and pay for so-called 'gender-transition' procedures-or else lose federal funding."Kernodle concluded this amounted to the federal government imposing "a sweeping new social policy by manipulating and perverting the statutory text that constrains them" and granted the preliminary injunction requested by Texas and Montana.Posting on X following the court's decision, Paxton said: "HUGE WIN: Texas has defeated Biden's attempt to require healthcare providers and States to perform and pay for 'gender-transition' procedures under threat of losing federal funding..
