{"id":228363,"date":"2026-10-22T17:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/supreme-court-rejects-trump-policy-restricting-treatment-for-transgender-federal-inmates-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T17:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:18:09","slug":"supreme-court-rejects-trump-policy-restricting-treatment-for-transgender-federal-inmates-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/supreme-court-rejects-trump-policy-restricting-treatment-for-transgender-federal-inmates-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court rejects Trump policy restricting treatment for transgender federal inmates – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WASHINGTON \u2014 In a blow to President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that his administration cannot enforce a new policy that restricts treatment for transgender inmates in federal prison.
The justices in a brief order rejected an emergency application filed by the administration that sought to block a lower court injunction against the proposal. The court order included no explanation, saying only that two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, would have granted it.
There are about 1,000 transgender inmates<\/a> in federal custody.
\u201cThis is a critical ruling for our clients and all transgender people in Bureau of Prisons custody,\u201d Li Nowlin-Sohl, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
\u201cThe denial of medically necessary health care, including gender-affirming health care, to people in prison is a violation of their fundamental constitutional rights,\u201d she added.
The policy, which will continue to be litigated over in lower courts, is part of President Donald Trump\u2019s broader effort to roll back moves to expand transgender rights. It was announced in line with his January 2025 executive order telling federal agencies not to acknowledge the concept of gender identity outside of the \u201cimmutable biological classification\u201d of male or female.
\u201cThis order is a loss for common sense,\u201d White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said in a statement. The administration will continue its efforts to \u201cprotect countless Americans from these dangerous, life-altering medical practices,\u201d she added.
In several different announcements, the Bureau of Prisons over the last 18 months has said it will not provide gender transition surgery, hormone treatments or \u201csocial accommodations\u201d such as wigs, padding or makeup.
That rolled back previous policies that allowed for gender-affirming care, with the government saying that such treatments have recently been called into question by medical professionals. That claim is heavily contested by transgender rights advocates.
If the policy had gone into effect, the only treatment transgender inmates would have been able to receive would be mental health services and potentially medications like antidepressants.
A group of transgender inmates sued, arguing the government had failed to adequately explain the change. They also alleged a violation of the Constitution\u2019s Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.
The lead plaintiffs in the case, Alishea Kingdom, Jas Kapule and Solo Nichols, have all been receiving hormone treatment for several years.
Washington-based U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth blocked the current policy in a ruling earlier this year, concluding that the Bureau of Prisons had failed to consider the merits of its past treatment of transgender inmates in formulating the plan.
\u201cDespite providing gender-affirming care to inmates in its custody for years, the government cites in the Program Statement zero evidence from its own medical or mental health professionals to support its conclusions,\u201d he wrote. The government provided no evidence that the previous plan was \u201cineffective or harmful,\u201d he added.
Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, also found that the proposal appeared to be engineered precisely to comply with the president\u2019s executive order, concluding that the reasons given were pretextual.
In September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a Trump administration request seeking to block the judge\u2019s final decision, with the panel split 2-1.
In court papers, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the lower court was guilty of \u201csubstituting its own policy judgment for that of the agency\u201d and was essentially faulting the Bureau of Prisons for following the president\u2019s executive order.
ACLU lawyers said in court papers that the Bureau of Prisons has provided hormone therapy to inmates since 1992 while also gradually expanding access to other treatments and social accommodations.
The abrupt change without necessary explanation \u201cgives rise to the inference that the agency\u2019s purported reasons were not its actual reasons,\u201d the lawyers wrote. \u201cThat glaring omission, as well as the unreasonableness of its decision, make it clear that the rationales were contrived to support the demand President Trump made\u201d in the executive order.
The case marks a rare recent win for transgender advocates at the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.
In June, the court upheld state bans<\/a> on transgender athletes seeking to participate in women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports. A year earlier, the court backed state laws banning gender transition treatments<\/a> for transgender youths.
The court has also allowed Trump to implement a ban on transgender people<\/a> in the military.
Lawrence Hurley is a senior Supreme Court reporter for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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