21 states fight subpoena of hospital’s transgender records

More than 20 states’ attorneys general have filed briefs opposing the Department of Justice’s subpoena against a Rhode Island hospital. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Monday the subpoena was an unwarranted attempt to access transgender patients’ health records. Lambda Legal, a pro-LGBTQ legal firm, also recently filed a friend-of-the-court brief against the subpoena, the Providence Journal reported. On May 4, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion to stop the subpoena against the hospital, calling it an intrusion into children’s medical records.

The briefs followed after a federal judge in Texas ordered Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., to comply with the subpoena. The subpoena asked for ​records on gender-altering care provided to minors. It listed 15 demands for information on personnel ​and corporate oversight, billing, coding, and clinical practices, along with the hospital’s relationships with drug manufacturers and distributors. 

Why did the judge enforce the subpoena? Chief District Judge Reed O’Connor issued his decision on April 30, hours after the DOJ filed a petition to enforce its July 2025 subpoena against Rhode Island Hospital. The DOJ said the hospital, which is part of Brown University Health, provided only a six-page response to its subpoena. O’Connor said the hospital failed to fully comply with the subpoena and ordered it to hand over all records within 14 days. The DOJ sought records because of the lack of proven safety of prescribed puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones, according to its petition.

A spokesman for the hospital told the Brown Daily Herald that it was reviewing the petition from the DOJ but declined to comment further. 

Dig deeper: Read my report on a New York Hospital that shut down its transgender medical program for minors.