Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Gender-Affirming Care Ban in Federal Prisons

The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday seeking to lift a lower court order that currently blocks a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender federal inmates. The policy halts surgeries, hormones, and social accommodations such as wigs, while continuing to allow mental health therapy and psychiatric services.

The emergency request comes after lower courts blocked officials from immediately carrying out the restrictions. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the government in June to continue providing gender-affirming care like hormone therapy in a class-action lawsuit filed by three transgender inmates incarcerated at federal correctional institutions in New Jersey, Florida, and Minnesota. Lamberth deemed the policy likely arbitrary and capricious in violation of a federal law governing agency procedures. A divided appeals court panel and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit left the order in place.

Executive Order and Prison Policy Changes

The policy was adopted after an executive order from President Donald Trump requiring the Federal Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical care policies so that federal funds are not spent for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex. Issued in February, the directive ordered changes across numerous federal agencies and followed an executive order on Trump’s first day back in office recognizing only two genders and ordering the halt of funding for gender-affirming treatments. The Bureau of Prisons had stated in 2025 that it was providing hormone therapy to more than 600 inmates under prior procedures that allowed treatments when clinically indicated.

Supreme Court Arguments and Legal Context

The Trump administration argues that the policy was properly adopted and that the judge overstepped, asking the high court to freeze Lamberth’s order while the lawsuit continues to play out. The Justice Department urged the court to allow the agency to enforce its decision to prioritize mental health treatment while discontinuing what it called medically disputed and unproven sex-rejecting interventions. ACLU attorneys representing the inmates stated that the policy is a direct threat to the well-being of transgender people in federal custody and an open violation of their fundamental rights, arguing that withholding necessary gender-affirming healthcare constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The 6-3 conservative-majority Supreme Court has previously handed down decisions allowing the administration to move ahead with other policies rolling back protections for transgender people.