Supreme Court blocks Trump administration's policy limiting transgender inmate care

The Supreme Court issued a brief order on Wednesday refusing to lift a district-court injunction that stops the Trump administration from enforcing a policy that would limit medical and social services for transgender inmates in federal prisons. The emergency application sought by the administration was denied, and the order noted that two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alno, would have granted the request.

The policy, announced after President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order that limits federal recognition of gender identity, would have ended provision of gender-transition surgery, hormone therapy and accommodations such as wigs or makeup for roughly 1,000 transgender prisoners. Under the proposed rule, inmates could receive only mental-health counseling and, at most, antidepressants.

The challenge was brought by three transgender prisoners – Alishea Kingdom, Jas Kapule and Solo Nichols – with support from the American Civil Liberties Union, who argued that the Bureau of Prisons failed to provide a reasoned justification and that the rule violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

"Despite providing gender-affirming care to inmates in its custody for years, the government cites in the Program Statement zero evidence from its own medical or mental health professionals to support its conclusions," wrote U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who blocked the policy earlier this year.

The district judge, a Reagan appointee, found that the Bureau of Prisons had not demonstrated that prior treatment was ineffective or harmful and concluded that the new rule appeared designed to comply with the president’s executive order.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had previously rejected the administration’s attempt to overturn the district court’s decision, with a 2-1 panel vote.

In filings, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the lower court was substituting its own policy judgment for that of the agency. ACLU lawyers countered that the Bureau of Prisons has provided hormone therapy since 1992 and that the abrupt policy change lacked a genuine justification.

The Supreme Court’s denial leaves the injunction in place, marking a recent victory for transgender advocates in a court that currently has a 6-3 conservative majority. The decision follows earlier rulings upholding state bans on transgender athletes and on gender-transition treatments for minors.