Q & A: Trump's Attempt to Seize Private Medical Records from New York Hospitals
The Trump administration is attempting to seize the private medical records of transgender New Yorkers - and the ACLU, NYCLU, and Lambda Legal are suing to stop him. Here's what our class action case means for patients and families.
UPDATE: On June 4, 2026, DOJ and NYU Langone agreed that no documents or materials covered by the lawsuit would be sent to DOJ prior to June 24, 2026, giving the court more time to decide our motion for emergency relief.
Since Day One of President Trump’s second term, his administration has used every lever of power available to it to pursue a nationwide crusade against transgender people and the gender-affirming medical care many transgender people need to live happy, fulfilled lives. Starting with an Executive Order during its second week, the Administration has expended significant energy attacking the provision of medical care for transgender youth in particular, focusing on jurisdictions where such healthcare remains lawful and in some cases, like New York, is afforded state-level legal protections.
After several of its initial strategies to attack gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth were blocked by various courts around the country, the Department of Justice (DOJ) shifted course by issuing civil administrative subpoenas to more than twenty healthcare institutions across the country that provide this care. These subpoenas sought identifying information and sensitive medical records of patients and families who received the care, and many of these healthcare institutions and families of their patients filed successful legal actions challenging the subpoenas, with every court to consider them finding that they were not based in any legitimate purpose, but rather a desire to harass and intimidate the providers and recipients of this care.
Facing these losses, in April 2026, the Administration changed tack once again, filing a motion to enforce an administrative subpoena directed at a hospital in Rhode Island in the federal district court for the Northern District of Texas, which was subsequently blocked by a federal court in Rhode Island. But DOJ escalated their attacks once more. On May 7, 2026, NYU Langone Hospitals received a criminal grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas directing the hospital to produce seventeen broad categories of records by June 10, 2026, including patient identifying information and sensitive health information that are substantially similar to the information and records sought by the civil subpoenas that have been quashed in federal district courts across the country. On June 2, 2026, several families (represented by ACLU, Lambda Legal, and NYCLU) filed a class action against the Department of Justice and Attorney General for violating their constitutional rights, as well as NYU Langone to prevent its release of information protected by doctor-patient privilege.