Trump administration asks Supreme Court to let federal prisons deny gender-affirming care to transgender inmates
The Justice Department filed an emergency appeal on Monday asking the Supreme Court to let it enforce Bureau of Prisons restrictions on surgeries, hormones and social accommodations for transgender inmates while litigation continues.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to let federal prisons enforce, for now, restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender inmates, putting another culture-war case on the high court’s fast-track docket.
The emergency appeal follows rulings from two lower courts blocking the Bureau of Prisons policy. US District Judge Royce Lamberth, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, ordered the government to keep providing care such as hormone therapy. A divided panel of the DC Circuit left that order in place, finding the policy was likely arbitrary and capricious because the bureau had not “adequately” considered its own experience providing gender-affirming care under its prior policy.
The policy was adopted after an executive order from President Trump directing the Bureau of Prisons to revise medical care policies so federal funds are not spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex”. It halts surgeries, hormone therapy and social accommodations such as wigs, while allowing mental health therapy to continue. The bureau said in 2025 it was providing hormone therapy to more than 600 inmates.
“The public interest substantially outweighs any irreparable harm to respondents,” the Justice Department told the court. “The 2026 policy provides appropriate, individualized treatment for gender dysphoria, while disallowing only interventions that are medically unnecessary.”
ACLU lawyers for the inmates called the policy “a direct threat to the well-being of transgender people in federal custody and an open violation of their fundamental rights”, arguing that withholding necessary care amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
The appeal reaches the 6-3 conservative court as LGBTQ Americans face a series of legal setbacks, including decisions letting states ban transgender care for minors and prohibit transgender athletes from girls’ school sports teams. The administration has also moved, with the court’s help, to ban transgender people from military service and to align US passport sex designations with sex assigned at birth.
Sources
- CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/28/politics/trump-supreme-court-suspend-transgender-care-federal-prisons?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_meta
- Associated Press (via La Nacion): https://www.lanacion.com.ar/usa/trump-administration-asks-supreme-court-to-allow-transgender-medical-care-restrictions-in-prison-nid28092026/
- Associated Press (via Netscape News): https://isp.netscape.com/news/story/0001/20260928/c8ac248e47fe1c36a9671dfff05132b8
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