Transgender care trial resumes today after pause

by Dale Ellis | November 28, 2022 at 12:00 a.m.

A federal bench trial in the matter of four transgender youths in Arkansas, their parents and their doctors is set to resume Monday after recessing for five weeks due to scheduling conflicts in the court of U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr.

Act 626 of 2021 -- the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act -- was passed in March 2021 after both the state House and Senate voted by large margins to override a veto by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. It was challenged the following month in a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, and three months later, a week before the law was set to go into effect, Moody issued a temporary injunction blocking it from being enforced while the matter is in court.

A three-judge panel on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Moody's injunction in August. The court ruled just over a week ago that it would not take up the matter for reconsideration by the full 8th Circuit, denying an appeal motion of Moody's ruling filed by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office. The lawsuit, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the plaintiffs, contends the law violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment and free speech protections under the First Amendment.

Plaintiffs in the case, represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, are Dylan Brandt, Parker Saxton, Sabrina Jennen and Brooke Dennis and their parents, Joanna Brandt, Donnie Saxton, Aaron and Lacey Jennen, Shayne and Amanda Dennis, and two physicians who provide health care for transgender teens, Dr. Michele Hutchison and Dr. Kathryn Stambough.

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https://www.eldoradonews.com/news/2022/nov/28/transgender-care-trial-resumes-today-after-pause/