SCOTUS rejects Trump admin's emergency appeal to ban gender-affirming care for trans inmateshttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/10/scotus-rejects-admins-emergency-appeal-to-ban-gender-affirming-care-for-trans-inmates/ 🔗Greg Owen (21 Oct 2026)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration's request to overturn a lower court ruling halting the denial of gender-affirming care for trans prisoners in federal custody.
In an unsigned 7-2 decision, the justices declined to let the administration's policy take effect before a legal challenge plays out. Two of the court's six conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented.
The ruling in question was issued in June in a class action lawsuit brought by transgender inmates in New Jersey, Florida, and Minnesota that challenges a 2026 rule change announced by the Bureau of Prisons in February, which bars transgender inmates from receiving surgical or hormone treatments and denies them "social accommodations," including clothing that aligns with their gender identity.
The policy followed President Donald Trump's executive order, issued on his first day back in office, which declared that the federal government would only "recognize two sexes, male and female."
The judge in the case based his decision on a lack of evidence provided by the government to prove the necessity of the change to a policy that has guided prison officials for years.
While the government claimed the change reflected the Bureau of Prisons' independent judgment, Washington, D.C. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said that the new policy was reverse-engineered to apply to the executive order.
The judge, however, said he had "no intention of wading into the culture war being waged against transgender individuals." The ruling was "simply" a decision about whether or not the government issued the new rules according to lawful procedures. He said it did not.--------------------------
@Sarah B
