Judge Blocks Florida’s ‘Bad Faith’ Suit Over Trans Care Advocacy

A Chicago federal judge temporarily blocked Florida’s lawsuit against the American Academy of Pediatrics over AAP’s stance on gender-affirming care, saying it appears to have been “undertaken in bad faith and without a reasonable expectation of success.”

Judge Matthew Kennelly on Tuesday granted AAP’s request to block the Florida state court lawsuit, which alleged its guidelines violated state trade-practices and racketeering law. AAP’s federal suit names Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who brought the state action, as defendant.

Kennelly, of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, said Florida’s allegations about AAP’s anticompetitive and deceptive commercial speech are tenuous, given that the group is a nonprofit that “does not sell any forms of gender-affirming care.”

And Florida’s suit mischaracterizes the group’s actual stance on care for transgender kids, he wrote.

“Beyond skewing the facts to undermine the scientific basis for AAP’s support of gender-affirming care, the state complaint goes out of its way to include provocative misrepresentations that make AAP’s conduct look as radical and extreme as possible,” Kennelly said. “That tends to support AAP’s contention that the state enforcement action is motivated by animus against those perceived as favorable to gender-affirming care.”

Kennelly also rejected Florida’s claims that he didn’t have jurisdiction to consider the matter. Florida is seeking to halt AAP’s conduct nationwide, Kennelly wrote, including in Illinois, making the state a proper venue for AAP’s suit.

A preliminary injunction will protect AAP’s First Amendment rights, Kennelly wrote, saying “there is no dispute that AAP’s support of gender-affirming care is the but-for cause of Uthmeier’s decision to bring the state court lawsuit.”

“Indeed, as AAP emphasizes, Uthmeier has been open that the goal of the lawsuit is to punish AAP for its speech,” he wrote.

Covington & Burling LLP and ArentFox Schiff LLP represent AAP. Uthmeier is represented by his office.

The case is American Acad. of Pediatrics v. Uthmeier, N.D. Ill., No. 1:26-cv-02401, order 6/2/26.