DOJ Requests Supreme Court to Uphold Ban on Transgender Treatments in Federal Prisons

<p>The Justice Department (DOJ) on September 25, 2026, requested the U.S. Supreme Court to permit a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy that prohibits payment for hormone treatments and social accommodations for transgender inmates.</p><p>The DOJ is seeking to block a lower court's ruling to enable the federal government to enforce its updated prison policy regarding gender dysphoria.</p><p>U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer stated in the DOJ petition, "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."</p><p>The BOP implemented a new policy in February that bans surgeries aimed at modifying sex traits and discontinues hormone treatments for inmates not currently receiving such therapy.</p><p>The policy also restricts social accommodations for inmates, including breast/buttock padding, chest binders, makeup, wigs, or undergarments that do not correspond with an inmate's biological sex.</p><p>Earlier in the year, a group of federal inmates filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration regarding an executive order that barred the use of federal funds for medical treatments or procedures for transgender inmates.</p><p>In June, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the BOP to continue providing accommodations and care for transgender inmates, stating that officials had not sufficiently justified why medical treatment for gender dysphoria should differ from other medical cases.</p><p>The lower court found that the BOP did not adequately consider its previous experience in providing care aligned with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).</p><p>In its filing to the Supreme Court, the DOJ claimed that the care guidelines from WPATH are scientifically flawed, biased, and unreliable.</p><p>Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to reinstate the policy while the appeal by the Justice Department is ongoing.</p><p>In the lawsuit, the DOJ and Sauer argued that courts should grant double deference to federal prison administrators, stating, "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." They added that the court’s demand for additional evidence is inconsistent with fundamental principles of administrative law or the double deference that BOP is entitled to in this context.</p>