Paxton tweeted Friday that investigations into parents of transgender children would continue as a result of his appeal. But the state’s child welfare agency won’t confirm the status of the investigations.
followed that with an order directing the state’s child welfare agency to investigate parents who provide this health care to their transgender children.
In a statement, a spokesperson for DFPS said that the agency’s “posture on these investigations is that we are continuing to follow the law.” The spokesperson declined to elaborate about whether the investigations are ongoing or are halted as a result of the injunction. “It’s up to the court of appeals to decide whether to reinstate the impact of the injunction,” said South Texas College of Law Houston professor Rocky Rhodes. “It’s not automatic, but I think that [the ACLU and Lambda Legal] will have a very strong case to have it reinstated.”But lawyers have challenged these automatic stays before, claiming the state should not be able to overturn an injunction simply by filing an appeal.