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SCOTUS DENIES BOP STAY OF ITS TRANSGENDER POLICY
The Supreme Court last Wednesday prevented the Federal Bureau of Prisons from denying certain gender-transition medical treatments for transgender inmates at federal prisons while the lawsuit over the issue works its way through the courts.
Two conservative justices, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas, said they would have granted the administration’s emergency request to stop the treatments while the litigation is pending.
In response to President Trump’s January 2025 Executive Order, the BOP adopted new policies to prohibit inmates from receiving the care. In March 2025, a group of inmates filed a class-action lawsuit accusing the government of failing to follow the Administrative Procedure Act before changing the prison policy, claiming that the agency provided no reasoned explanation for its decision.
The BOP adopted the policy in February, roughly one year after it issued two memoranda to implement the Executive Order that had been signed by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term. That EO directed the Attorney General to “ensure that no Federal funds are expended for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”
The BOP said that it adopted its February 2026 policy “independently of” Trump’s January 2025 Executive Order. In connection with the 2026 policy, the BOP also included an extensive administrative record and a 43-page memorandum in which it attributed the change from its prior policy to, among other things, “the latest scientific information.” Its earlier policies, the BOP said, had relied on recommendations by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, but it now deems WPATH’s standards “unreliable” and “unpersuasive.”
Finally, the BOP expressed concerns that providing access to procedures such as gender-transition surgeries could subject transgender prisoners to “attacks,” “raise fairness concerns,” and “breed resentment among other inmates.”
The lawsuit disputes the government’s argument that the treatments are not supported by the most recent science. The plaintiffs also note that prison officials in past administrations had not raised safety concerns regarding inmates receiving the care.
The Supreme Court’s denial of a stay means that, for now, as many as 1,000 federal prisoners who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria will continue to receive gender transition treatments.
New York Times, Supreme Court Blocks Trump From Denying Gender-Transition Care to Federal Prisoners (October 21, 2o26)
SCOTUSBlog, Justices leave lower court order in place preventing Trump administration from implementing transgender inmate policy (October 21, 2o26)
Washington Post, Supreme Court allows gender transition care for federal prisoners for now (October 21, 2o26)
~ Thomas L. Root