Justice Department had demanded Boston Children's Hospital hand over patients' and employees' personal information under the guise of combating medical "fraud."
A federal judge has quashed a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice demanding that Boston Children’s Hospital turn over private medical information on youth receiving gender-affirming care, blasting the request as a “fishing expedition” aimed at prosecuting doctors under the guise of investigating health care fraud.
In his ruling, Judge Myong Joun, a Biden appointee, said the Justice Department sought an “astonishingly broad array of documents and information that are virtually unlimited in scope,” including patients’ Social Security numbers, home addresses, and personal details, as well as the complete personnel files of all 2,000 Boston Children’s Hospital employees, regardless of whether they had any involvement in providing gender-affirming care to minors.
Jimmy Kimmel has defeated an appeal by former Congressman George Santos, who sued Kimmel and ABC after the comedian tricked him into making personalized Cameo videos and used them on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to mock the Republican. Santos, expelled from Congress in December 2023 over financial and ethical scandals, had turned to the video-on-demand app to earn money after his ouster.
In his lawsuit, Santos accused Kimmel and ABC of copyright infringement, fraudulent inducement, and other violations. Kimmel’s staff had ordered Cameo videos under false pretenses, coaxing Santos into making silly or controversial statements, which the show then aired in a recurring segment called "Will Santos Say It?"
Gun rights groups are blasting the Trump administration after CNN reported that senior Justice Department officials have been discussing the possibility of restricting transgender U.S. citizens from owning firearms, following the recent mass shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis. Although officials described the talks as "preliminary," critics warn that even floating such a proposal scapegoats transgender people and threatens their constitutional rights.
The internal talks appeared to draw on a theory promoted by conservative influencers and media outlets: that transgender people are mentally ill, and that transition-related hormones negatively affect mental health, making them more prone to violence.
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