Inmates urge Supreme Court to keep block on transgender prison policy

Lawyers for transgender inmates in federal custody asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to leave in place a district court order blocking a new Bureau of Prisons policy. The policy would prevent inmates from receiving hormone therapy and social accommodations such as makeup, wigs, and padding. Attorney Li Nowlin-Sohl said the administration is asking the justices to overturn a three-decades-long status quo.

The BOP adopted the policy in February 2026, saying it acted independently of President Trump's February 2025 executive order directing that no federal funds be spent on procedures to conform an inmate's appearance to the opposite sex. The agency included a 43-page memorandum that attributed the change to the latest scientific information and argued that prior standards from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health were unreliable. It also raised concerns about attacks, fairness, and resentment among inmates.

In their filing, the inmates argue the policy lacks a reasoned explanation under administrative law. They say the record is silent about the BOP's own experience providing hormone therapy and social accommodations and contains no evidence on whether providers found the care effective. They also note that the BOP replaced decades of recommended treatment with psychotherapy and psychotropic medications, which they say treat conditions like depression and anxiety, not gender dysphoria itself. The inmates contend the rationales were contrived to support the executive order.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer countered that the district court substituted its own policy judgment for the BOP's, relied on evidence outside the administrative record, and denied prison administrators the deference they are due. The inmates respond that pausing the injunction would cause permanent harm, including significant bodily changes and worsening gender dysphoria, depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicidality. The case reached the Supreme Court after a divided D.C. Circuit panel refused to pause the district court's order.