Emails and other records from U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine on transgender medical care for children will have to be produced by the Justice Department after a federal judge ruled they are relevant to a case challenging Alabama’s ban on such care.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and lawyers defending the state from the lawsuit had been repeatedly rebuffed by Justice Department lawyers who claimed Levine’s “work is too broad and high level for searches of her email account or documents to result in relevant information pertaining to this lawsuit,” according to court records.

Levine’s records were argued as part of Boe v. Marshall, the federal lawsuit brought by five parents who claim a 2022 state law strips them of the right to make important decisions about their children’s healthcare. The Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act (SB184), which was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey, bans puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries for minors. The law punishes not only doctors, but also “any other individual” who “prescribes or administers” the treatments with a felony conviction and up to 10 years in jail.

In defending the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for children, lawyers for Alabama argued that Levine, who is the first Senate-confirmed transgender official in a presidential administration, “has highly relevant communications and documents” to the lawsuit.

“It is not hyperbole to say that Admiral Levine is the leading public-facing official in the United States government when it comes to transitioning treatments for minors,” the state said in its motion for Levine’s records, pointing to her public statements on gender-affirming care and her background as a pediatrician “specializing in LGBTQ medicine.”

On Nov. 21, U.S. District Court Judge Liles Burke ruled in Marshall’s favor.

“Given that Adm. Levine is a public official, the Court rests this finding in part on the parties’ representation that the production would neither interfere with her official duties nor burden her personally,” Burke wrote in his ruling.

On Wednesday, Marshall hailed the decision:

“I am glad the court granted our motion to require HHS to search Admiral Levine’s emails for documents relevant to our defense of Alabama’s law,” Marshall said in a statement. “Levine has been at the forefront of the Biden Administration’s reckless promotion of sex-modification procedures for children. There is no doubt about that, nor about the Admiral’s close involvement with radical organizations like WPATH whose ‘Standards of Care’ mandate the use of sterilizing hormones and surgeries to ‘treat’ vulnerable children suffering from gender dysphoria. We look forward to reviewing the documents HHS produces as we continue to defend Alabama’s children.”