Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Trump Administration’s Attempt to Intimidate Professional Organizations with Baseless Investigations Undermines Public Health 

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell to co-lead a coalition of attorneys general filing amicus briefs in support of the Endocrine Society (ES) and World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which are being targeted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over recommendations that run counter to the Trump administration’s preferred policies.  

Raoul and the coalition filed amicus briefs in support of lawsuits filed by ES and WPATH challenging the FTC’s improperly motivated demands that the organizations turn over extensive information regarding their deliberative processes, personnel, internal and external communications, political advocacy, and more. Both ES and WPATH are seeking a court order to block the FTC’s Civil Investigative Demand for this information, which the FTC seeks to further the administration’s political agenda, rather than to ensure the wide availability of safe health care.   

“States like Illinois and their medical providers rely upon expert organizations, such as the Endocrine Society and World Professional Association for Transgender Health, to ensure all residents, including children and youth, have access to quality, evidence-based health care,” Raoul said. “I am proud to work with my fellow attorneys general to urge the court to grant these organizations preliminary injunctions to stop the FTC’s unprecedented and animus-driven investigative demands for information.” 

In their briefs, Raoul and the attorneys general explain that states have long been recognized as the regulators of health care and play a unique and critical role in ensuring their residents have access to the highest quality and safest care. To ensure state public health policies and medical policies are driven by the latest evidence, scientific developments and consensus among the medical and scientific community, states and their medical providers must be able to rely on the quality and accuracy of these professional organizations’ guidance. The federal government’s interference would compromise these organizations’ ability to provide accurate, up-to-date recommendations and clinical guidelines which would harm states, their medical providers and their residents seeking medical care. 

Raoul and the attorneys general argue the targeting of ES and WPATH is part of a pattern by the Trump administration of disagreeing with the widely held public health and medical recommendations of respected medical professionals and experts. The administration often issues guidance that conflicts with recommendations on many different medical issues, ranging from childhood vaccines to whether pregnant women can safely take medications like Tylenol.   

On March 10, Raoul joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a similar amicus brief supporting the American Academy of Pediatrics in its lawsuit against the Trump administration’s improper data demands. 

Joining Raoul in filing the ES brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. 

Joining Raoul in filing the WPATH brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.