OAKLAND (LN) — California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing a U.S. Department of Justice subpoena seeking medical records related to gender-affirming care for minors.
The brief supports a motion to quash a subpoena issued by the U.S. DOJ against Rhode Island Hospital, which seeks information regarding the provision of gender-affirming care to minors. The subpoena was issued on July 3, 2025, and the DOJ filed a petition to enforce it in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on April 30, 2026.
In the brief, Bonta and the coalition argue that the DOJ relies on a misinterpretation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). They contend that the DOJ’s claim that prescribing and administering drugs for off-label uses is prohibited is wrongful and would threaten patients’ abilities to receive effective treatments across multiple fields of medicine.
“The Trump Administration continues to chase its hateful agenda against transgender Americans in another baseless attempt to access transgender patients’ health records,” Bonta said in a press release. “U.S. DOJ seeks to justify its behavior with an incorrect interpretation of the law that would threaten patients’ abilities to receive the most effective treatments across multiple fields of medicine, not just gender-affirming care.”
The Rhode Island Office of the Child Advocate filed a motion to quash the subpoena in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on May 4. Bonta’s office joined the effort brief filed on Friday.
Bonta has previously joined multistate amicus briefs opposing similar DOJ subpoenas. In January 2026, he joined a brief opposing a subpoena against telemedicine platform QueerDoc. He also joined briefs opposing subpoenas against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Children’s Hospital Colorado.
The coalition includes attorneys general from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.