US Supreme Court leaves in place order blocking Trump administration's policy on care for transgender federal inmates

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday 21 October turned down the Trump administration’s request to pause a lower-court order that stops the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) from enforcing a new healthcare policy for transgender inmates, SCOTUSblog and AP reported.

In a brief, unsigned order in Trump v. Kingdom, the court gave no reasons. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas indicated they would have granted the request, SCOTUSblog reported.

The BOP adopted the policy in February 2026. It would end hormone therapy and transition-related surgery for transgender inmates as well as “social accommodations” such as makeup and wigs, according to SCOTUSblog. The bureau said it adopted the policy independently of an executive order President Donald Trump signed on the first day of his second term, and cited “the latest scientific information” among its reasons.

Three transgender inmates brought a class action in federal court in Washington. Senior US District Judge Royce Lamberth blocked the policy on 26 August, and a divided panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to freeze his order.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices that the district court had substituted “its own policy judgment” for that of the BOP. The inmates argued that the administration was asking the court “to overturn a three decades-long status quo” and that withdrawing care would cause them lasting harm, according to SCOTUSblog. The case continues in the lower courts.