Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend transgender medical care in federal prisons

Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

President Donald Trump’s administration urged the Supreme Court on Monday to allow federal prison officials to deny certain types of medical care for transgender inmates, such as surgeries – putting another culture war issue on the high court’s burgeoning fast-track docket.

The Bureau of Prisons policy that began early in Trump’s second term – and that was modified after an early round of court battles – permits psychotherapy and psychiatry services for inmates with gender dysphoria, but not hormone therapies, surgeries or “social accommodations.”

The appeal reached the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court at a time when LGBTQ Americans have faced a series of legal setbacks, including back-to-back decisions in recent years that have allowed states to ban transgender care for minors and permitted states to prohibit transgender athletes from playing on girls’ sports teams in school.

David A. Lieb/AP/File

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Trump made clamping down on legal victories secured by transgender Americans a centerpiece of his presidential campaign in 2024, and his administration, with the Supreme Court’s help, has moved to ban trans people from serving in the military and to require that sex designation on US passports align with a traveler’s biological sex.

“The public interest substantially outweighs any irreparable harm to respondents,” the Justice Department told the Supreme Court in its emergency appeal. “The 2026 policy provides appropriate, individualized treatment for gender dysphoria, while disallowing only interventions that are medically unnecessary.”

In a series of rulings this year, a US district court and a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, blocked the Trump policy from taking effect in the short term. In a brief order earlier this month, the DC Circuit concluded that the administration’s policy was likely arbitrary and capricious because the Bureau of Prisons had not “adequately” considered “its own experience providing gender affirming care under its prior policy.”

The rush appeal, which the court will likely decide within a few weeks, was the latest in a deluge of emergency litigation the administration has filed at the Supreme Court in recent weeks. The justices are already considering a high-profile appeal seeking to remove migrants to countries other than their homeland without giving them an opportunity to raise human rights concerns.

Over the summer the court weighed Trump-related cases dealing with mail ballots , the White House ballroom and efforts to identify non-citizen voters .

伊芙琳·霍克斯坦/路透社

周一，唐纳德·特朗普总统的政府敦促最高法院允许联邦监狱官员拒绝为跨性别囚犯提供某些类型的医疗服务，例如手术——这使得最高法院日益增多的快速审理程序中又增加了一个文化战争问题。

美国监狱管理局在特朗普第二任期初期开始实施的政策（在早期的法庭斗争后进行了修改）允许为患有性别焦虑症的囚犯提供心理治疗和精神病学服务，但不允许进行激素治疗、手术或“社会适应”。

上诉案提交至保守派占多数的最高法院（6比3），而此时 LGBTQ 美国人正面临一系列法律挫折，包括近年来接连发生的两项裁决，这两项裁决允许各州禁止为未成年人提供跨性别医疗服务，并允许各州禁止跨性别运动员参加学校的女子运动队。

David A. Lieb/美联社/档案照片

最高法院驳回共和党第三次试图夺取密苏里州民主党众议院席位的努力

特朗普将打压跨性别美国人取得的法律胜利作为其 2024 年总统竞选的核心内容，在他的领导下，最高法院帮助其政府禁止跨性别者在军队服役，并要求美国护照上的性别标注与旅行者的生理性别一致。

司法部在向最高法院提交的紧急上诉中表示：“公共利益远远大于对被告可能造成的任何不可弥补的伤害。2026年的政策为性别焦虑症患者提供了适当的、个性化的治疗，同时仅禁止那些在医学上不必要的干预措施。”

今年，美国华盛顿特区的一家地方法院和一家联邦上诉法院在一系列裁决中，阻止了特朗普政府的这项政策在短期内生效。本月早些时候，哥伦比亚特区巡回上诉法院在一份简短的命令中得出结论，认为政府的这项政策很可能是武断且反复无常的，因为联邦监狱管理局没有“充分”考虑“其在先前政策下提供性别肯定治疗的经验”。

最高法院很可能在几周内对这起紧急上诉做出裁决，这是本届政府近几周来向最高法院提交的大量紧急诉讼中的最新一起。大法官们目前正在审理一起备受瞩目的上诉，该上诉试图将移民遣返回其原籍国以外的国家，而不给予他们提出人权问题的机会。

今年夏天，法院审理了与特朗普有关的案件，涉及邮寄选票、白宫宴会厅事件以及识别非公民选民的努力。