Justice Department asks Supreme Court to allow transgender inmate ban

The Justice Department on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy banning payment for hormone treatments and social accommodations for transgender inmates.

The DOJ is asking the high court to block a lower court’s ruling so that the federal government can immediately enforce its updated prison policy regarding gender dysphoria.

“BOP’s decision to prioritize mental-health treatment, while discontinuing medically disputed and unproven sex-rejecting interventions, falls well within the bounds of reasoned decision-making,” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in the DOJ petition.

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The BOP issued a new policy in February prohibiting any surgeries aimed at modifying sex traits, as well as discontinuing hormone treatments for inmates not currently on hormone therapy.

In addition, the policy prevents social accommodations for inmates, such as breast/buttock padding, chest binders, makeup, wigs, or undergarments that do not align with an inmate’s biological sex.

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This stock image shows the interior of cell block and common area at a state jail. (iStock)

Earlier this year, a group of federal inmates sued the Trump administration over an executive order issued at the start of his second term that prohibited the use of federal funds for medical treatments or procedures for transgender inmates.

In June, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, ordered the BOP to continue providing accommodations and care for transgender inmates in federal prisons, saying officials had not provided a serious explanation for why medical treatment for gender dysphoria should be handled differently than in other cases.

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The lower court found that the BOP failed to adequately consider its own past experience providing care aligned with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

In its Supreme Court filing, the DOJ said the care guidelines from WPATH are scientifically flawed, biased, and unreliable.

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Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to revive the policy while proceedings moved forward following an appeal by the Justice Department.

In the lawsuit, the DOJ and Sauer argued that courts must grant double deference to federal prison administrators.

“Prison administrators . . . should be accorded wide-ranging deference in the adoption and execution of policies and practices that in their judgment are needed to preserve internal order and discipline and to maintain institutional security.” “The court’s demand for additional evidence cannot be reconciled with bedrock principles of administrative law or the double deference that BOP is due in this context.”