A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that aimed to defund youth transgender procedures, granting relief to families who sued.

U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson, an appointee of President Joe Biden, issued a temporary restraining order in Baltimore, stopping the administration from conditioning federal aid to healthcare facilities on the basis of ending transgender services for youth. The decision is expected to face an appeal, with legal experts predicting the case may reach the Supreme Court.

“This is a population with an extremely high rate of suicide, poverty, and drug addiction,” Hurson said, noting that any abrupt cessation of their treatments could be “horribly dangerous.”

The orders, signed earlier this year, sought to officially define gender based solely on biological sex and eliminate federal funding for transgender care for individuals under 19 years old. In response, seven transgender youths, joined by advocacy groups PFLAG and GLMA, filed a lawsuit supported by Lambda Legal and the ACLU.

Following the orders, some hospitals scaled back or suspended transgender procedures and operations, but changes were already underway for at least one of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit.

Kristen Chapman, the parent of a 17-year-old transgender child, said her family moved from Tennessee to Virginia in July 2023 to access transgender procedures that were available before a state law barred access for minors. After Trump signed similar executive orders, her child’s appointment at Children’s Hospital of Richmond was canceled, according to the Washington Post.

The Justice Department argued the president has authority to set funding conditions, noting similar restrictions in other countries.

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Meanwhile, attorneys general from Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota filed a separate suit, claiming the orders violate the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause and the Tenth Amendment’s limitations on federal authority over state medical practices.

Hurson ruled from the bench and said his full order would be made available on the docket later on Thursday. The next hearing over this issue is set for Friday in a separate case in Seattle.