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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><img width="625" height="147" style="width:6.5069in;height:1.5277in" id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.png@01D62487.751E4030"></span></b><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">May 7, 2020<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><u><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans"">Gov. Little appeals to U.S. Supreme Court to stop transgender inmate’s sex-reassignment surgery<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">Boise, Idaho – Governor Brad Little announced today that the State of Idaho has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordering the state
to provide Idaho inmate Adree Edmo with sex-reassignment surgery.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">“At my direction, the State of Idaho has filed the necessary petitions with the U.S. Supreme Court to appeal the Ninth Circuit’s ruling requiring Idaho to pay for an inmate’s sex-reassignment surgery.
The Ninth Circuit’s decision goes against the text and original meaning of the Eighth Amendment and contradicts more than four decades of Supreme Court precedent. We will vigorously litigate the Ninth Circuit’s unprecedented ruling at the Supreme Court because
the taxpayers of Idaho should not have to pay for a procedure that is not medically necessary,” Governor Little said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">In December of 2018, a federal district judge overruled the treating physician’s determination that inmate Adree Edmo’s sex-reassignment surgery was not medically necessary. The state appealed to
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and in August 2019 a three-judge panel affirmed the district judge’s ruling.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">The state sought rehearing by the entire Ninth Circuit, which was denied. Ten judges dissented from the denial. One of those dissents, joined by eight judges, found the Ninth Circuit’s decision to
be “as unjustified as it is unprecedented.” <i>Opinion respecting denial of rehearing en banc by Judge O’Scannlain at p. 5.
</i>That dissenting opinion also argued that the state and its prison medical providers “certainly were not guilty of violating the Eighth Amendment.”
<i>Opinion respecting denial by Judge O’Scannlain, at p. 33.</i></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">Additionally, the state also filed an application to stay (or pause) the district court’s order requiring surgery pending the appeal.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">“I am confident the Supreme Court will find the Ninth Circuit is once again outside the judicial mainstream. I wish to thank Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and his deputies for their work. Our
two offices have worked together to defend the taxpayer and the Constitution in this case,” Governor Little said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""># # #<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001jPcDrZTUF2iffZAaFR5CaCO9D9OTNmcIrS9m2JnRBQLxSmCCDvAfzkhQC6WRNcW4O6931CUyPvAzTSP21AiJ4rioUvabaHbWJxzuwF2hEYM%3D"><i><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">Sign up to receive
news from Governor Little</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family:"Open Sans""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">Reply to this e-mail to unsubscribe<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">--<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: Marissa Morrison Hyer, Press Secretary<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">208-943-1686 or </span>
<a href="mailto:marissa.morrison@gov.idaho.gov"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">marissa.morrison@gov.idaho.gov</span></a><span style="font-family:"Open Sans"">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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