Chat, is it good when a court says “This reckless disregard for the duty of candor owed to a federal court is appalling?” What about if it drops to a footnote that notes that this is “not the first time” the lawyer in question “acted in ways that appear to deviate from the norms of professional conduct?” And did we mention this lawyer works for the DOJ?
The lawyer in question, Lisa Hsiao, Acting Director of the Enforcement & Affirmative Litigation Branch (EALB) at Main Justice in DC, is leading the charge to harass trans kids and their medical providers. Their theory is that off-label use of drugs somehow invalidates the label and … something something … hand over patient medical records, including social security numbers, diagnoses, and treatment protocols. Except the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) specifically protects medical providers’ authority “to prescribe or administer any legally marketed device to a patient for any condition or disease within a legitimate health care practitioner-patient relationship,” which is why court after court quashed the subpoenas.
And so Hsaio and her subordinates practiced some self-help. Despite the fact that the subpoenas issued from DC, they decided to “locate” their investigation in the Northern District of Texas, so as to avail themselves of the hospitality of the courthouse in Fort Worth, home of Judges Reed O’Connor and Mark Pittman. On April 30, the DOJ filed a petition to enforce a subpoena for records served on Rhode Island Hospital, some 1,700 miles away. Hours later, Judge O’Connor granted it, without even allowing the hospital the chance to reply. The hospital moved to stay enforcement, and the court refused, based on “the Government’s representation in the initial Hsiao Declaration.” The Fifth Circuit was no more sympathetic.
At the same time, the Child Advocate for the State of Rhode Island, which is designated by statute to represent the interests of children in state custody, and the hospital moved to quash the subpoenas in the District Court of Rhode Island. The case was assigned to Judge Mary McElroy, who did more than simply credit “the Government’s representations.”
She noted that the government’s filings in Texas and Rhode Island falsely implied that the hospital had simply walked away from negotiations over compliance.
“This representation that the communication with RIH had ceased as of February 4, 2026, was clearly misleading, if not utterly false,” Judge McElroy wrote, adding that “just the day before filing the declaration containing this representation the attorneys for RIH had sent an email in response to DOJ’s request for a conference to discuss the terms provided in the February 4th email.”
But wait, there’s more:
DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case. It has misrepresented and withheld information to both this Court and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Texas court”). It did so in an obvious effort to shield it’s recent investigative tactics—previously rejected by every other court to review them—from this Court’s review, in favor of a distant forum that DOJ deems friendly to its political positions. Its representatives have, under oath, misrepresented salient facts. It has misled the parties with whom it was negotiating in Rhode Island, who have now been placed in an untenable and unprecedented procedural position. And when its attorneys came to this Court to explain their conduct, the senior attorney—who was present at many of the events that took place in this case—sat silently by as his counterpart, a junior attorney who has been practicing law for approximately six months and had no relevant information, was forced to answer questions about DOJ’s blatant disregard for the proper course of negotiations.
The “junior attorney” was Brantley Meyers, who joined the DOJ’s Civil Division last fall after three clerkships and has currently entered his appearance on at least 20 cases. The “senior attorney” was Jordan Campell, whose official bio states that he “co-founded Campbell Miller Payne, PLLC, the first and only firm dedicated to exclusively representing detransitioners and victims of radical gender ideology.” And yet, with all his real world experience, he chose not to argue this case. Huh! (It’s probably just a coincidence that Acting AG Todd Blanche is going to war with state bars over their right to discipline DOJ lawyers.)
Judge McElroy granted the petitioners’ request and nixed the subpoenas. She reasoned that this did not conflict with Judge O’Connor’s order, as “This Court quashes the administrative subpoena — the instrument issued by the DOJ — not the enforcement order entered by the Texas Court.”
Naturally the government has appealed. But its Texas adventurism continues. According to the New York Times, NYU Langone got a grand jury subpoena from the Western District of Texas for the medical records of trans kids in its care.
Liz Dye produces the Law and Chaos Substack and podcast. You can subscribe by clicking the logo:
The post DOJ Gets Nuked By RI Judge For ‘Appalling’ Lack Of Candor appeared first on Above the Law.
Chat, is it good when a court says “This reckless disregard for the duty of candor owed to a federal court is appalling?” What about if it drops to a footnote that notes that this is “not the first time” the lawyer in question “acted in ways that appear to deviate from the norms of professional conduct?” And did we mention this lawyer works for the DOJ?
The lawyer in question, Lisa Hsiao, Acting Director of the Enforcement & Affirmative Litigation Branch (EALB) at Main Justice in DC, is leading the charge to harass trans kids and their medical providers. Their theory is that off-label use of drugs somehow invalidates the label and … something something … hand over patient medical records, including social security numbers, diagnoses, and treatment protocols. Except the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) specifically protects medical providers’ authority “to prescribe or administer any legally marketed device to a patient for any condition or disease within a legitimate health care practitioner-patient relationship,” which is why court after court quashed the subpoenas.
And so Hsaio and her subordinates practiced some self-help. Despite the fact that the subpoenas issued from DC, they decided to “locate” their investigation in the Northern District of Texas, so as to avail themselves of the hospitality of the courthouse in Fort Worth, home of Judges Reed O’Connor and Mark Pittman. On April 30, the DOJ filed a petition to enforce a subpoena for records served on Rhode Island Hospital, some 1,700 miles away. Hours later, Judge O’Connor granted it, without even allowing the hospital the chance to reply. The hospital moved to stay enforcement, and the court refused, based on “the Government’s representation in the initial Hsiao Declaration.” The Fifth Circuit was no more sympathetic.
At the same time, the Child Advocate for the State of Rhode Island, which is designated by statute to represent the interests of children in state custody, and the hospital moved to quash the subpoenas in the District Court of Rhode Island. The case was assigned to Judge Mary McElroy, who did more than simply credit “the Government’s representations.”
She noted that the government’s filings in Texas and Rhode Island falsely implied that the hospital had simply walked away from negotiations over compliance.
“This representation that the communication with RIH had ceased as of February 4, 2026, was clearly misleading, if not utterly false,” Judge McElroy wrote, adding that “just the day before filing the declaration containing this representation the attorneys for RIH had sent an email in response to DOJ’s request for a conference to discuss the terms provided in the February 4th email.”
But wait, there’s more:
DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case. It has misrepresented and withheld information to both this Court and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Texas court”). It did so in an obvious effort to shield it’s recent investigative tactics—previously rejected by every other court to review them—from this Court’s review, in favor of a distant forum that DOJ deems friendly to its political positions. Its representatives have, under oath, misrepresented salient facts. It has misled the parties with whom it was negotiating in Rhode Island, who have now been placed in an untenable and unprecedented procedural position. And when its attorneys came to this Court to explain their conduct, the senior attorney—who was present at many of the events that took place in this case—sat silently by as his counterpart, a junior attorney who has been practicing law for approximately six months and had no relevant information, was forced to answer questions about DOJ’s blatant disregard for the proper course of negotiations.
The “junior attorney” was Brantley Meyers, who joined the DOJ’s Civil Division last fall after three clerkships and has currently entered his appearance on at least 20 cases. The “senior attorney” was Jordan Campell, whose official bio states that he “co-founded Campbell Miller Payne, PLLC, the first and only firm dedicated to exclusively representing detransitioners and victims of radical gender ideology.” And yet, with all his real world experience, he chose not to argue this case. Huh! (It’s probably just a coincidence that Acting AG Todd Blanche is going to war with state bars over their right to discipline DOJ lawyers.)
Judge McElroy granted the petitioners’ request and nixed the subpoenas. She reasoned that this did not conflict with Judge O’Connor’s order, as “This Court quashes the administrative subpoena — the instrument issued by the DOJ — not the enforcement order entered by the Texas Court.”
Naturally the government has appealed. But its Texas adventurism continues. According to the New York Times, NYU Langone got a grand jury subpoena from the Western District of Texas for the medical records of trans kids in its care.
Liz Dye produces the Law and Chaos Substack and podcast. You can subscribe by clicking the logo:
The post DOJ Gets Nuked By RI Judge For ‘Appalling’ Lack Of Candor appeared first on Above the Law.
