Top Doctor Caught Copying Research In Children’s Health Case

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Leaders of the Arizona state legislature have alerted the Department of Justice about potential plagiarism in expert testimony provided by Dr. Daniel Shumer, a transgender youth advocate who opposes President Donald Trump’s executive order on protecting children from gender-related medical procedures.

Dr. Shumer, who leads the Child and Adolescent Gender Services Clinic at the University of Michigan’s children’s hospital, has acknowledged that his expert witness testimony in a case challenging Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act contained plagiarized content according to university standards.

In a March 11 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Arizona State Senate President Warren Peterson and House Speaker Steve Montenegro wrote, “Because Dr. Shumer has served as an expert witness under the previous administration and is currently an expert witness against the United States, we write to bring important legal and ethical issues to your attention.”

🚨Dr. Daniel Shumer of @UMichMedSchool is a prolific expert witness in transgender litigation. He has served as expert witness in “about 15” lawsuits and has been paid around $150,000 over the past 4-5 years.

Shumer has admitted to plagiarism in his expert report.

🧵 pic.twitter.com/xEXuVfx7ld

— Leor Sapir (@LeorSapir) March 17, 2025

The letter indicates that Shumer’s testimony in multiple cases opposing Trump’s order contained substantially similar language without proper attribution. On March 5, Arizona legislative leaders moved to exclude his testimony, noting that he had earned approximately $150,000 over recent years for providing expert testimony against state restrictions on youth gender procedures.

Initially denying the plagiarism allegations, Shumer later conceded that he should have cited other experts in his report. His previous work with Biden’s DOJ as an expert witness in Alabama’s case has raised additional concerns about potential conflicts of interest, as his government contract reportedly extended into early February.

The Arizona officials expressed uncertainty about the precise timing of Shumer’s transition from working with the DOJ to opposing the United States in legal proceedings. They suggested that the Justice Department investigate whether Shumer maintained his contractual obligations while serving as a government witness.

Later in the deposition, however, the examining attorney presents Shumer with numerous examples of language from his report that is suspiciously similar to language in reports by Safer and Rosenthal. pic.twitter.com/eyFrbZy3WA

— Leor Sapir (@LeorSapir) March 17, 2025

The legislative leaders also raised concerns about possible perjury, noting that Shumer had claimed authorship of the report’s contents and stated he had synthesized source material into his own words.

The controversy emerges in the wake of Trump’s January 28 executive order limiting federal funding for youth gender transition procedures. Federal judges have since blocked aspects of the administration’s funding restrictions.

Shumer has not responded to requests for comment on these allegations.