[UPDATE] DOJ asks Supreme Court to let federal prisons end hormone therapy for transgender inmates
The emergency request would let the Bureau of Prisons enforce its February policy while the lawsuit continues.
The Justice Department filed an emergency application asking the justices to pause Lamberth's order so the Bureau of Prisons can enforce the policy while the case continues. Judge Royce Lamberth blocked the policy in June, and the D.C. Circuit declined to revive it earlier this month.
PREVIOUSLY
- Feb. 19 — The federal Bureau of Prisons adopted a policy ending hormone therapy for transgender inmates: no new prescriptions, and those already on hormones must taper off.
- June 17 — U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth blocked the policy while a lawsuit challenging it proceeds. He ruled it "arbitrary and capricious" under federal administrative law, not on constitutional grounds.
- Sept. 18 — A divided D.C. Circuit panel, 2-1, declined to revive the policy, finding the government had not shown it was likely to win. Lamberth's block stayed in place.
What the policy does:
- Ends hormone therapy and sex-modification surgeries for transgender inmates.
- Ends social accommodations such as binders and wigs, but keeps mental-health care.
- Solicitor General Sauer calls the treatments "medically disputed and unproven sex-rejecting interventions."