A U.S. federal judge has called RFK Jr. an “unsafe” leader, criticizing his efforts to cut off funding for healthcare providers that treat children with gender dysphoria. The recently filed order stated that the HHS Secretary has caused “chaos and terror” with his controversial declaration.
Federal judge calls RFK Jr. ‘unsafe leader’
In an opinion and order filed on Saturday, U.S. District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai penned a scrutiny of Robert F. Kennedy for attempting to block federal funding for hospitals that provide gender affirming care for minors. “Unserious leaders are unsafe,” Kasubhai wrote. The document criticized Kennedy for causing “chaos and terror for all those people and institutions of our great nation.” It further added, “This case illustrates that when a leader acts without authority and in the absence of the rule of law, he acts with cruelty.”
The legal tussle follows RFK Jr.’s declaration in December that claimed that gender-affirming medical treatments for trans youths “are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors, and therefore, fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care.” Medical professionals had since refuted the claims.
The HHS soon launched efforts to cut off funding and treatments for children with gender dysphoria. This led to legal pushback from 21 states that argued that Kennedy had not followed the proper legal procedures to move forward with the policy.
Last month, Kasubhai stated that Kennedy lacked “legal authority to unilaterally and categorically supersede statewide standards of care governing gender-affirming care.” He issued a temporary block on the HHS Secretary’s declaration. “The notion that ‘I will go forward and issue a declaration and see if we can get away with it’ is not a principle of governance that adheres to the overarching commitment to a democratic republic that requires the rule of law to be regarded and respected and honored as sacred,” the judge further added.
Originally reported by Namrata Ghosh on Mandatory.
