Supreme Court Keeps Block on Restrictions on Transgender Prisoners’ Care

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to enforce a policy restricting gender-affirming care for transgender people in federal prisons while litigation continues.

The unsigned, one-sentence order leaves in place a federal judge’s injunction preventing the Bureau of Prisons from ending hormone therapy, certain social accommodations and other treatments. The court did not explain its reasoning. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have granted the administration’s request, indicating an apparent 7-2 decision.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order after returning to office in January 2025 barring federal funding for medical treatments intended to align an inmate’s appearance with a gender identity different from the inmate’s sex assigned at birth. The Bureau of Prisons later adopted a policy restricting hormone therapy, surgery and social accommodations while continuing to permit psychotherapy and psychiatric services for gender dysphoria.

Three prisoners who had received hormone therapy for years challenged the policy. Their lawyers said it could halt treatment for nearly 1,000 people in federal custody. The administration argued that the restrictions reflected security and prison-management concerns and disputed that the prohibited care was medically necessary.

A federal district court blocked the policy, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to pause that ruling. The injunction will remain in effect as the government’s appeal proceeds.