Judicial order requires health agencies’ websites to be restored by 11:59pm on Feb 11, 2025

U.S. District Judge John Bates on Feb 11th, ordered the Department of Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Federal Drug Administration to restore earlier versions of their websites by 11:59 tonight. The order reverses a January 31st memo issued from the Office of Personnel Management that directed the federal health agencies to remove all public-facing media that didn’t comply with Trump’s Executive Order on “gender ideology”.   

The most important factors judges consider in weighing temporary restraining orders (TROs) are whether failure to grant the TRO would result in “irreparable harm” and the likelihood that the plaintiffs’ case will succeed on the merits in a full trial. In granting the TRO, Judge Bates sided strongly with the plaintiffs, Doctors for America, who asserted that the removal of the webpages violated federal law.

“It bears emphasizing who ultimately bears the harm of defendants’ actions: everyday Americans, and most acutely, underprivileged Americans, seeking healthcare,” wrote Judge Bates. “The public thus has a strong interest in avoiding these serious injuries to the public health.”