Arkansas’ Gender-Affirming Care Ban to Get Full Eighth Cir. Look

A full complement of Eighth Circuit judges will review a federal court order that permanently halted Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation gender-affirming care ban for minors, the court announced.

The state had asked the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to alter its normal procedure by skipping the normal three-judge panel and putting the question of the ban’s constitutionality before the whole court. Initial en banc review would avoid unnecessary delay, the court said.

The plaintiffs—transgender youths, their parents, and medical providers—opposed the state’s “extraordinary and unprecedented” request, saying Arkansas’ apparent lack of confidence that it could win before a ...