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A Texas judge issued an injunction Saturday against a federal mandate aimed to protect transgender people, finding that the federal health rule violates existing law. The preliminary injunction, granted by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, is in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas, on behalf of religious hospital network Franciscan Alliance, and four other states in August. (Ura and Dearman, 12/31)

A federal judge in Texas on Saturday issued a court order barring enforcement of an Obama administration policy seeking to extend anti-discrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act to transgender health and abortion-related services. ... In granting an injunction one day before the new policy was to take effect, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor held that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law governing rule-making practices. The judge also ruled that plaintiffs were likely to prevail in court on their claim that the new policy infringes on the rights of private healthcare providers under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (Gorman, 12/31)

The latest injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor comes four months after he blocked a higher-profile new set of transgender protections — a federal directive that required public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Several of the Republican-controlled states that brought that lawsuit, including Texas, also sued over the health regulations that were finalized in May. Civil rights groups had hailed the new health rules as groundbreaking anti-discrimination protections. (Weber, 12/31)

An organization of Catholic businesses is suing the Obama administration over a federal rule they say will force Catholic hospitals and doctors to perform gender reassignment services against their faith. The Catholic Benefits Association filed the lawsuit Wednesday in North Dakota District Court along with the Catholic Diocese of Fargo. In a statement, the groups called the rule part of a “multi-agency effort to redefine the term ‘sex’ in federal anti-discrimination laws.” (Somashekhar, 12/29)