A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction extending a temporary block on President Donald Trump's executive order which halts funding for transgender procedures for youth under the age of 19.

The order, titled "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," yanks federal funding for so-called gender-affirming care. The EO prohibits federal funding, support, or promotion of pediatric 'gender-affirming' medical interventions.

On Friday, US District Judge Lauren King - a Biden appointee, extended her Feb. 14 order in response to a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of Washington, Minnesota, Oregon and Colorado - as well as three doctors, ruling that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that Trump's order violates the Constitution's separation of powers by attempting to usurp Congress's power to appropriate federal funds.

"The Court’s holding here is not about the policy goals that President Trump seeks to advance; rather, it is about reaffirming the structural integrity of the Constitution by ensuring that executive action respects congressional authority," wrote King, adding that the plaintiffs are also likely to prevail in their claim that the order violates the Fifth Amendment's right to equal protection, which prohibits the federal government from "treating people differently based on sex or transgender status."

Of note - King, 42, was in private practice from 2012-2021, then served as a pro tem appellate (backup) judge for the Northwest Intertribal Court System in Washington state, and then former President Biden nominated her to serve as a US District judge for the Western District of Washington. She is the first Native American federal judge to serve the state. Amazing.

King did say that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the executive order's provision on "protections against female genital mutilation," as all four states are already subject to laws criminalizing the procedure.

Let that sink in - they wanted to allow female genital mutilation in addition to the rest of it...

In a statement praising King, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said on X that the injunction would allow young transgender Washingtonians to access "needed life-saving care," and enable medical institutions in the state to operate "without federal government discrimination or overreach."

As the Epoch Times notes further, 

Trump signed the “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” executive order after taking office on Jan. 20. It instructed the head of each agency that provides research and education grants to medical institutions to take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving these grants “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

The order states that the U.S. government “will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another,” and vows to “rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”

“Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions,” the order stated. “This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end.”

Under the order, “chemical and surgical mutilation” was defined as the use of puberty blockers, the use of sex hormones, and surgical procedures “that attempt to transform an individual’s physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex.”

The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit on Feb. 7, arguing that the president’s order is unconstitutional and accusing the Trump administration of discrimination.

“The Order facially discriminates against transgender and gender-diverse people by stigmatizing, defunding, and purporting to criminalize health care that is lawful, state-regulated, medically appropriate and necessary, and specific to their health needs, while the same care is provided to cisgender people for other purposes,” they stated.

Another federal judge in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order on Feb. 13, blocking portions of Trump’s executive orders, including the one titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,”—which recognizes only two sexes, male and female—following a legal challenge filed by advocacy groups.