In a landmark ruling on April 15, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Idaho to enforce its Vulnerable Child Protection Act, which protects children from dangerous and irreversible drugs and procedures that block natural development and remove healthy body parts. The Supreme Court granted Idaho’s request to stay an injunction of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho which had blocked Idaho’s law from taking effect.

Idaho argued that the lower court’s order was overbroad because it granted relief beyond the two named plaintiffs challenging the law and the drugs they were seeking. The order prevented Idaho from protecting all children in the state from all forms of medical intervention. The Supreme Court agreed with Idaho’s argument, and temporarily stayed the lower court’s order, except as to the named plaintiffs. The Supreme Court’s stay will remain in place while Idaho pursues an appeal in the Ninth Circuit, which seeks a complete reversal of the order and dismissal of the plaintiffs’ case.

On behalf of its detransitioner clients, Campbell Miller Payne filed an amicus brief in February in support of Idaho’s request for a stay. An amicus brief is filed by a non-party who has information to assist the court in reaching its decision. Campbell Miller Payne’s brief argued that laws like Idaho’s are supported by scientific evidence showing that gender dysphoric children naturally become comfortable with their sex, and by the experiences of detransitioners who realize that medical intervention did not cure their mental health problems.

Judge Robert C. Ervin of the North Carolina Superior Court signed an Order on May 7 allowing Prisha Mosley’s claims for fraud, facilitating fraud, and civil conspiracy to proceed. Judge Ervin ruled that “the Court has determined as a matter of law that the allegations of Plaintiff’s Complaint, treated as true, are sufficient to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.”

The defendants in Prisha Mosley’s case—a pediatrician, plastic surgeon, two counselors, and the corporate entities with which they are associated—asked the Court to dismiss all of Prisha’s claims. Judge Ervin denied the defendants’ motion in part, holding that the claims for fraud, facilitating fraud, and civil conspiracy could proceed. Other claims, including for medical malpractice and negligence, were dismissed. While the Court did not provide extensive reasoning in its Order, the defendants argued that Prisha’s medical malpractice and negligence claims were filed too late.

Judge Ervin’s May 7 Order represents the first substantive ruling we are aware of in which a Court has held that a detransitioner’s case against her healthcare professionals is legally viable. Prisha alleges her healthcare providers misled her into taking testosterone and having her healthy breasts removed when she was a teenager. The team at Campbell Miller Payne is honored to represent Prisha as she pursues justice and tries to prevent what happened to her from happening to others.