WASHINGTON — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow federal prisons to enforce restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender inmates, putting another culture-war issue on the high court’s fast-track docket.
The emergency appeal, reported by the Associated Press and CNN, comes after two lower courts blocked the Bureau of Prisons policy from taking effect.
The policy, which began early in Trump’s second term, permits psychotherapy and psychiatry services for inmates with gender dysphoria, but not hormone therapies, surgeries, or “social accommodations” such as wigs and makeup.
It was adopted after an executive order required the Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical care policies so that federal funds would not be spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex,” according to the AP.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the government to continue providing gender-affirming care like hormone therapy. The judge, nominated to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, found that the bureau did not dispute that gender dysphoria can cause severe side effects, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
The D.C. Circuit concluded earlier this month that the administration’s policy was likely arbitrary and capricious because the Bureau of Prisons had not “adequately” considered its own experience providing gender-affirming care under its prior policy.
“The public interest substantially outweighs any irreparable harm to respondents,” the Justice Department told the Supreme Court in its emergency appeal. “The 2026 policy provides appropriate, individualized treatment for gender dysphoria, while disallowing only interventions that are medically unnecessary.”
The agency said in 2025 that it was providing hormone therapy to more than 600 inmates. ACLU attorneys representing the inmates said the policy is “a direct threat to the well-being of transgender people in federal custody” and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.