Published January 20, 2026
On January 20, 2026, EPPC Scholars Eric Kniffin, Rachel N. Morrison, and Mary Hasson submitted a public comment in response to a Proposed Rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that would reverse the Biden Administration’s claim that “gender dysphoria” is a protected disability under federal civil rights laws, despite Congress’s clear statement to the contrary.
HHS’s Proposed Rule would undo a claim made in a final rule issued by HHS in May 2024. In the preface of that rule, HHS claimed that “gender dysphoria may constitute a disability,” even though Congress explicitly said in 1990 that “disability” under the Americans with Disabilities Act does not include “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments.”
The scholars’ comment begins by thanking the HHS and the Trump Administration more broadly for advancing policies that reflect a true understanding of the nature of the human person, something at the heart of EPPC’s mission. The comment offers support for HHS’s Proposed Rule and agrees with the arguments HHS offers in support of its proposal. The comment also offers additional arguments for HHS’s consideration, drawing heavily on public comments that Eric Kniffin submitted in 2023 and 2024 in opposition to the Biden Administration’s proposal. The comment argues that the 2024 Final Rule:
- Is “arbitrary and capricious and not supported by law,” Ed Whelan’s devastating analysis of Williams v. Kincaid, a Fourth Circuit case that played a central role in the Final Rule;
- Hurts women, infringes on religious liberty, and places unreasonable and unlawful burdens on a wide range of private and public entities;
- Is especially problematic in the medical context, as it requires covered entities to perform sex-rejecting procedures, which render patients permanently disabled; and
- Violates the Supreme Court’s major questions doctrine, which is based on the commonsense principle that federal agencies cannot advance policy goals that Congress has squarely rejected.
The comment reaffirms the importance of disability rights and pushes back on claims that the Proposed Rule, which would merely respect Congress’s exclusion of “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments,” threatens the rights of all Americans with disabilities.
The comment concludes by thanking HHS for its efforts to use the authority it has been given by Congress and President Trump to advance the rule of law, honor the Constitution’s separation of powers, and protect Americans from gender ideology.
Other organizations submitting public comments included:
- Alliance Defending Freedom
- American Association of Christian Schools
- Center for Public Justice, Christian Alliance for Orphans, and The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities
- Concerned Women for America
- Idaho Family Policy Center
- National Catholic Bioethics Center, Catholic Medical Association, National Catholic Partnership on Disability, and The National Association of Catholic Nurses, USA
Eric Kniffin is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he works on a range of initiatives to protect and strengthen religious liberty as part of EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project.
