US Senator Mike Lee from Utah has voiced strong opposition to a federal judge’s ruling that ordered the restoration of web pages removed under President Donald Trump’s executive order on gender ideology. Lee characterizes the decision as an “archival” attack on “legal presidential power” and “strange” for judges to decide which government websites ought to exist.

Elon Musk Joins Criticism of Judge’s Ruling

Tesla CEO Elon Musk echoed Lee’s sentiments, calling the ruling “truly absurd.” Responding to Lee’s post on social media, Musk said, “Truly absurd. Judges as website editors!? We should at least ATTEMPT to fire this junky jurist. The notion of having a judge’s job for life, no matter how bad the judgments, is ridiculous! Enough is enough.”

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This controversy stems from a ruling by US District Judge John Bates, who granted a temporary restraining order to Doctors for America, a nonprofit organization. According to the panelists, the deletion of selected HHS web pages by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) breached federal law and limited the profession’s capacity to treat patients and perform studies.

Bates determined that the critics were likely to win their case that the CDC, FDA, and HHS had broken the law by removing medical data from websites, with a special focus on issues involving gender identity and health care.

Background on Trump’s Executive Order and Web Page Removal

On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order declaring that the US recognizes only two genders. The executive order directed federal agencies to remove materials that supported or promoted gender ideology.

In this sequence, the Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum to all federal agencies that will stop posting appropriate web pages, social media pages, and public-facing media by January 31. So, the CDC and the FDA withdrew several important resources, such as medical recommendations for sexually transmitted infections and immunization recommendations.

The move was controversial, with critics arguing that it hindered the ability of healthcare professionals to provide accurate care based on scientific data. The case was filed in court by Doctors for America, claiming that the deletion of those web pages already impaired their activities in serving patients as well as their involvement in biomedical research.

The choice of temporarily reactivating the pages is an important step in the continuing discussion concerning government powers physicians’ rights and medical autonomy in the domain of gender identity.

While the legal battle rages on, both Mike Lee and Elon Musk continue to be outspoken in their disapproval of the judge’s ruling, arguing, somewhat deceptively, that the ruling is an attack on presidential authority.