ThemisResourceFund

After beginning medical transition at 13-years-old, detransitioner Jonni Skinner says his medical professionals prevented him from growing up to discover who he truly was.

Big development in the WPATH v. FTC fight. Chief Judge James Boasberg has denied WPATH’s request to block the FTC’s enforcement lawsuit against it in Texas. Earlier this year, WPATH sued the FTC in DC, arguing that a sweeping demand for its internal records was retaliation for its protected speech and violated the First Amendment. In May, Boasberg partially agreed. He issued a preliminary injunction blocking that specific demand, finding WPATH was likely to show it was retaliatory. But he confined the ruling to that one demand and declined to give WPATH any broader protection. The FTC then withdrew the demand. In June, it teamed up with several states and filed a separate enforcement suit against WPATH in the Northern District of Texas, alleging violations of the FTC Act’s bans on unfair or deceptive practices and false advertising. WPATH went back to Boasberg and asked him to shut the Texas case down, arguing it was duplicative of the DC litigation and threatened his earlier injunction. It wanted an anti-suit injunction forcing the FTC to litigate in DC instead. Today Boasberg said no. His May ruling covered only the withdrawn records demand, so there’s no threat to his jurisdiction. Being sued isn’t itself a First Amendment injury, and the expense of fighting on two fronts isn’t the kind of irreparable harm that justifies emergency relief, he found. WPATH now defends the false-advertising and deceptive-practices case in Texas, where it faces a highly sympathetic judge. Boasberg did leave one door open, noting WPATH can cite his prior opinion to try to fend off discovery there. Discovery could potentially be devastating to the organization.