Supreme Court Refuses to Let Trump Administration Cut Off Hormone Treatment for Transgender Federal Inmates
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to let the Trump administration enforce a policy ending hormone therapy and other gender-related accommodations for transgender inmates in federal prisons.
In a brief, unsigned order, the justices denied the administration’s emergency request to pause a lower-court ruling that blocked the Bureau of Prisons policy, SCOTUSblog reported. The court gave no explanation.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have granted the request. Neither wrote an opinion explaining his view.
The decision means the policy stays on hold while the case continues in the lower courts. There are about 1,000 transgender inmates in federal custody, NBC News reported.
The policy would have halted gender-transition surgeries, tapered off hormones and ended “social accommodations” such as makeup and wigs. Prisons would still have offered mental health services, the Associated Press reported.
It followed an executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day back in office. That order told the attorney general to ensure no federal funds were spent on treatments meant to conform an inmate’s appearance to the opposite sex.
The Bureau of Prisons adopted the current version in February. It said the policy was adopted “independently of” the executive order and cited “the latest scientific information,” according to SCOTUSblog.
The agency also argued that providing gender-transition procedures could expose transgender prisoners to “attacks,” “raise fairness concerns” and “breed resentment among other inmates.”
Three transgender inmates, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, sued in federal court in Washington. They argued the government failed to adequately explain the change and alleged a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, blocked the policy. He wrote that the government cited “zero evidence from its own medical or mental health professionals” to support its conclusions, NBC News reported.
Lamberth also found the reasons the agency gave appeared to be pretextual. A divided panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to freeze his order in September.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices the lower court had substituted “its own policy judgment” for the agency’s and denied prison administrators the deference they are due.
“While we’re disappointed in the court’s order, this isn’t a final decision on the merits,” the Justice Department said, according to Bloomberg Law. It said it would pursue its appeal to reinstate a policy “that affirms biological reality.”
ACLU attorney Li Nowlin-Sohl called the order “a critical ruling for our clients and all transgender people in Bureau of Prisons custody.”
About 600 inmates were receiving hormone therapy in 2025, the agency said in court records cited by the AP. The inmates’ lawyers said the government has not detailed security problems tied to the treatment over 30 years.
The ruling is a rare setback for the administration on transgender policy. The court has previously let restrictions on transgender military service and passport sex markers take effect, and The Washington Post noted the case could return to the justices.
Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details and requirements.
