Judge blocks Donald Trump executive order to send trans women to men's prison

[Jessica_Rose]

Judge blocks Donald Trump executive order to send trans women to men's prison

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-blocks-donald-trump-executive-order-to-send-trans-women-to-men-s-prison/ar-AA1yrLf6?ocid=windirect&cvid=52d194cbd79d46b3a0f377ae8b52d9ea&ei=18

Story by Michael Kunzelman (5 Feb 2025)

A US judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from moving trans women to men's prisons and ending their gender-affirming care.

Trump's order requires the federal Bureau of Prisons ensure that "males are not detained in women's prisons."

District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington found that three transgender inmates who sued would likely succeed in arguing the policy was unconstitutional.

Moving the women to a men's prison would jeopardize their safety and expose them to psychological harm, plaintiffs' attorneys argued.

Lamberth noted that there are only about 16 transgender women housed in female penitentiaries, including the three plaintiffs who sued in Washington. The judge concluded that "the public interest in seeing the plaintiffs relocated immediately to male facilities is slight at best."

"They were terrified at the prospect of these transfers given the serious risk of violence and sexual assault that they face in these men's facilities," GLAD attorney Jennifer Levi told the judge.

Plaintiffs' lawyers argued that Trump's order violates their clients' constitutional rights to equal protection of laws and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

"There is no way to keep these women safe outside of a women's prison." Levi said. "We are just asking this court to maintain the status quo."