Missouri Judge Will Be Replaced in Transgender Health Care Case

The families, health care providers, and organizations suing to overturn Missouri’s restrictions on gender-affirming care will get a new judge in their case.

After a hearing, St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer agreed Friday to step away from the case because lawyers for the plaintiffs asked for him to be replaced, the Associated Press reports. The attorneys didn’t say why they didn’t want Ohmer hearing the case, but he had declined to issue a preliminary injunction that would block enforcement of the law while the suit proceeds. Although complying with the request that he leave the case, Ohmer decried it as “gamesmanship.”

The Missouri law, signed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in June, bans hormone treatment, puberty blockers, and gender-confirmation surgeries for the purpose of gender transition for people under 18, while allowing them for cisgender minors who have a disorder of gender development or other condition that necessitates their use. Trans minors already on hormones or puberty blockers will be able to stay on them, but they cannot initiate treatment. The law also bans gender-affirming care for adults imprisoned in Missouri and prevents the state’s Medicaid program from covering this care for people of any age. The state's attorney general had issued similar restrictions but withdrew them when the legislature acted.

The families of three transgender people, Southampton Community Healthcare and two of its medical providers, and the organizations PFLAG and GLMA, sued to challenge the law. They are represented by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. They argue that the ban violates the state constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws, interferes with parents’ rights to control their children’s health care, and will cause irreparable harm to the people affected by it.

In declining the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction, Ohmer wrote in August that they “have not clearly shown a sufficient threat of irreparable injury absent injunctive relief” and that there was no “clear public interest” in favor of the injunction. “The science and medical evidence is conflicting and unclear,” he added. “Accordingly, the evidence raises more questions than answers.” The law took effect August 28.

The Missouri Supreme Court had appointed Ohmer to hear the case and will choose his replacement. He was already the second judge assigned to the case, as the plaintiffs’ lawyers had said that if Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green was appointed, they would seek to have him replaced. Green quickly recused himself.

Because of this, Missouri Solicitor General Josh Divine, representing the state, had argued against replacing Ohmer; the plaintiffs had already gotten a new judge, he said. “But Ohmer ruled that Green’s proactive action didn’t prohibit the plaintiffs from exercising their right to a change in judge,” the AP reports.

ACLU of Missouri attorney Tony Rothert said that right was clearly established, although he didn’t say why the plaintiffs were making the request.

While recognizing that right, Ohmer was critical of the attorneys’ move. “What this case comes down to is much posturing and gamesmanship,” he said at the hearing, according to the AP. He further commented, “And the wheels of justice keep spinning in the mud.” The appointment of a new judge may delay the case into next year, he noted.

Twenty-two states have banned some or all gender-affirming procedures for trans youth. Several of the laws have been blocked or struck down by courts.