The Trump administration has requested the Supreme Court to lift a judge’s block on its policy prohibiting transgender inmates from accessing gender transition surgeries and hormone treatments.
According to the policy, inmates receiving hormones would be placed on a reduction plan. Officials would also stop providing accommodations, such as chest binders, to inmates.
The filing to the Supreme Court seeks to undo the decision handed down by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“In nullifying BOP’s exercise of its statutorily conferred authority to adopt a policy that prison administrators have determined is necessary to maintain institutional security, the court’s order causes irreparable harm to the government and to the public,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in court filings.
Sauer addressed prior Supreme Court rulings that surround transgender rights. “Indeed, this Court has emphasized the importance of allowing politically accountable officials to make decisions about the permissible forms of treatment for gender dysphoria,” he wrote. He further added, “In any event, any harm to respondents is substantially outweighed by the harm to the government and to the public from forcing [Bureau of Prisons] to maintain prior policies that it has determined do not ‘align[] with the latest scientific information’ or ‘account[] for the complex security and administration concerns in the correctional environment.'”
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected efforts to lift the judge’s block on the transgender policy, prompting Sauer to take the case to the Supreme Court.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the BOP to transfer two transgender, biological male inmates to women’s facilities. The move followed Lamberth issuing a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of President Trump’s executive order mandating that transgender women be housed in men’s federal prisons and denying them access to “gender-affirming” medical care.
