Supreme Court Blocks Trump Administration Policy Restricting Medical Care for Transgender Federal Inmates

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an emergency appeal from the Trump administration seeking to enforce a Bureau of Prisons policy that would have barred hormone therapy, gender transition surgeries and social accommodations for transgender inmates in federal prisons. The court issued an unsigned, one-sentence order that offered no explanation for the decision, leaving intact a lower court injunction that had already blocked the policy from taking effect.

The ruling prevents the Bureau of Prisons from cutting off hormone treatments and gender-related accommodations while litigation over the policy continues. Described by observers as a rare win for transgender rights at the conservative-majority court, the decision stands in contrast to recent Supreme Court actions that allowed the administration to ban transgender people from serving in the military and permitted separate restrictions on transgender individuals in other contexts.