A federal Judge on Tuesday ordered government agencies to restore public access to health-related webpages and datasets that they removed to comply with an executive order by President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington agreed to issue a temporary restraining order requested by the Doctors for America advocacy group. The Judge instructed the government to restore access to several webpages and datasets that the group identified as missing from websites and to identify others that also were taken down “without adequate notice or reasoned explanation.”

On Jan. 20, his first day back in the White House, Trump signed an order for agencies to use the term “sex” and not “gender” in federal policies and documents. In response, the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Acting Director required agency heads to eliminate any programs and take down any websites that promote “gender ideology.”

Doctors for America, represented by the Public Citizen Litigation Group, sued OPM, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The nonprofit group cited the executive order’s adverse impact on two of its members: a Chicago clinic doctor who would have consulted CDC resources to address a recent chlamydia outbreak in a high school and a Yale School of Medicine doctor who relies on CDC resources about contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections.

The case is among dozens of lawsuits challenging executive orders that Trump, a Republican, issued within hours of his second inauguration.

The scrubbed material includes reports on HIV prevention, a CDC webpage for providing clinicians with guidance on reproductive health care and an FDA study on “sex differences in the clinical evaluation of medical products.”

Removing important information from the CDC and FDA websites is delaying patient care, hampering research and hindering doctors’ ability to communicate with patients, the plaintiffs’ attorneys argued in a court filing.

“The agencies’ actions create a dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, halt or hamper key health research, and deprive physicians of resources that impact clinical practice,” they wrote.

Government lawyers argued that Doctors for America’s claims fall “well short of clearly showing irreparable harm” to any plaintiffs and are unlikely to succeed on their merits.

“Either failure provides a sufficient basis for denying extraordinary relief,” they wrote.

During a hearing Monday, the judge asked plaintiffs’ attorney Zachary Shelley if the removal of the online material harms the public. Shelley said the doctors’ interests align with their patients.

“There is immense harm to the public,” Shelley said. “There are massive threats to public health.”

The judge concluded that the harm in this case ultimately trickles down to “everyday Americans” seeking doctors’ care.

“If those doctors cannot provide these individuals the care they need (and deserve) within the scheduled and often limited time frame, there is a chance that some individuals will not receive treatment, including for severe, life-threatening conditions,” Bates wrote.

Doctors for America is a not-for-profit group representing more than 27,000 physicians and medical trainees. It was born from an earlier organization that pushed for health reform and supported Barack Obama, a Democrat, when he was running for president.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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Is a DeSantis dynasty imminent?

Not so fast, says Florida’s Governor, though he notes it’s “flattering” that it’s being discussed after reportage that First Lady Casey DeSantis is being talked up as a “very real” possibility as the logical successor to her husband as Governor, there may not be fresh polling.

“She’s a force of nature. I think people look at it, they say, ‘Well, the Governor won by 20 points. Obviously Casey would do better because she’s so much better’, but it’s not something that she’s seeking out,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said on the Ingraham Angle.

He believes that “a lot of people are just concerned about the future of the state,” which drives speculation.

“But this is not anything new,” he added. “People have been asking her to do this for a long time, but she’s not seeking to do anything. But it’s flattering that people are asking her to do it.”

Fresh reporting from Matt Dixon of NBC News says differently, with a “source familiar with her thinking” suggesting it’s a possibility.

“I would say this: I have heard donors have been urging her to run and that while it’s not something she has wanted to do, they are causing her to at least stop and listen,” Dixon cites his source.

Gov. DeSantis paints his wife as more ideologically pure than he is, which won’t stifle speculation.

“She’s one of the rare political spouses,” he told Ingraham. “Even though I’m probably the most conservative Governor in the country, she may even be more conservative than me.

Give the Governor credit for consistency: He said in May that if he “had to hypothesize her interest in getting into the political thicket as a candidate,” he would “characterize it as zero.”

That said, polls show Florida Republicans have more than “zero” interest in the DeSantis family remaining in the Governor’s Mansion.

Per a June polling memo from Florida Atlantic University, she leads a field of candidates with 43% support, ahead of Byron Donalds at 19%, with Jimmy Patronis and Matt Gaetz further back still.

A poll conducted in April by FAU showed 38% of 372 Florida Republicans polled would choose the First Lady in a head-to-head race against Gaetz, who would receive 16% support in that scenario.

A University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab survey from November 2023 showed the First Lady with 22% support, a lead in a crowded field of potential candidates.

While she previously acknowledged the talk is “humbling,” she also maintains that the seeming enthusiasm for her running is due to her “rock star” husband and the job he’s done as the state’s Chief Executive.

However, the buzz isn’t quieting, and the race will start to get real after Sine Die, so decision time is nigh for the former newscaster in the Jacksonville market.

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Four federal employees were fired Tuesday over payments to reimburse New York City for hotel costs for migrants, Department of Homeland Security officials said.

The workers are accused of circumventing leadership to make the transactions, which have been standard for years through a program that helps with costs to care for a surge in migration. But officials did not give details on how the four had violated any policies.

On Monday, President Donald Trump’s aide Elon Musk posted on X that his team had discovered payments used to house migrants in “luxury hotels” with money intended for disaster relief. Musk blasted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is part of Homeland Security, and called the payments “gross insubordination.”

FEMA’s Acting Administrator, Cameron Hamilton, later said the payments were suspended and the employees who authorized them would be held accountable.

The terminated employees were FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist, a Homeland Security statement said.

The employees made “egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,” the statement said. “DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people.”

The statement gave no other details, and officials didn’t reply to emails seeking further comment.

Information from New York City indicated that money it has received to care for migrants was appropriated by Congress and allocated to the city last year by FEMA. The city has never paid luxury rates for hotels, spokeswoman Liz Garcia said.

The money comes from Congress and is specifically for Customs and Border Protection, which also is part of Homeland Security. FEMA administers the payments.

The money is separate from the disaster relief fund, which is FEMA’s main funding stream to help people and governments affected by disasters.

The Shelter and Services Program has become a flashpoint for criticism by Republicans, who incorrectly claim it’s taking money from people hit by hurricanes or floods.

The firings come as Trump’s Republican administration ratchets up pressure on FEMA, suggesting it should be disbanded and money should be given directly to states to handle disasters.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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