A federal judge declined Tuesday to pause litigation challenging Alabama’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors as similar cases wind upward toward the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Liles Burke said no to a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to put the Alabama case on hold until appellate courts decide if they will hear related petitions on whether states can enact such bans. The Justice Department asked for the stay because, “this exceptional legal landscape is quickly evolving.”

Burke wrote that the case will move forward for now. He said a stay might be appropriate later if those petitions are granted.

Transgender young people and their families have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appellate court decision that allowed bans in Kentucky and Tennessee to remain in effect.

The Alabama ban makes it a felony — punishable by up to 10 years in prison — for doctors to treat people under 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to help affirm a new gender identity.

Burke issued a temporary injunction in May 2022 to block Alabama from enforcing its ban on the treatments, a decision that came after a three-day hearing in a lawsuit filed by parents of transgender children. Burke wrote that the law was likely unconstitutional. The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the case on the side of the parents.

Attorney General Steve Marshall appealed Burke’s temporary injunction, and in August, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the injunction.

The Alabama families with transgender children who challenged the law have asked the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the three-judge panel’s decision.

The law remains blocked by injunction until the 11th Circuit appeals court issues a mandate in the case. The case is scheduled to go to trial in April.

At least 22 states have enacted laws banning or restricting gender-affirming care for minors and most of the bans are being challenged in court.

Read more: Alabama families ask court to again review Alabama’s gender-affirming care ban

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