Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow restrictions on transgender inmates

The policy, implemented in February, prohibits medical and surgical treatments, as well as social accommodations that could alter a person's appearance to align with their gender identity. Psychiatric services would still be available. This new restriction reverses previous procedures that permitted gender-affirming treatments for inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria when deemed clinically necessary.

President Trump has adopted a firm stance on transgender rights since returning to office in January 2025. On his first day back, he issued an executive order recognizing only male and female genders and directed federal agencies, including the Bureau of Prisons, to revise policies and halt funding for gender-affirming treatments.

The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has previously ruled against transgender rights in several cases, including those related to sports participation, military service, and passport designations. It has also allowed states to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths.

The current challenge was initiated by three transgender inmates incarcerated in federal correctional facilities in New Jersey, Florida, and Minnesota. Judge Royce Lamberth blocked the restrictions in June, stating the policy was likely "arbitrary and capricious" and violated federal law governing agency procedures. He found that the Bureau of Prisons disregarded its own evidence and experience, and "reverse engineered" the measure to align with Trump's executive order.

In its filing, the Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to permit the Bureau of Prisons to enforce its decision, which it described as prioritizing mental health treatment while discontinuing "medically disputed and unproven sex-rejecting interventions." The department argued that the Bureau of Prisons had reasonably considered its prior experience in determining these interventions were not medically necessary and that security and prison administration concerns independently justified the policy change.