Conservative Christians who banked their hopes on the Supreme Court just watched seven justices refuse to block a federal order forcing taxpayers to fund hormone treatments and cross-sex accessories for transgender prisoners — and only Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito objected.
The stakes are plain: the institution that was supposed to secure the constitutional realignment has become the vehicle for its undoing. Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh, sold to the base as reliable constitutionalist votes, joined the Court's three liberals and Neil Gorsuch in allowing the mandate to stand. The Court's October 21 order in Kingdom v. Trump gave no explanation, according to HotAir — but the vote count spoke volumes.
The case originated when President Trump reversed Obama- and Biden-era policies by executive order in January 2025, cutting off federal funding for transgender hormone treatments. The Bureau of Prisons moved to implement the order. Three transgender prisoners, represented by the ACLU, sued. Federal District Judge Royce Lamberth sided with the prisoners in June 2025, and the Supreme Court just let that ruling proceed without even a temporary pause.
This is the same pattern conservative voters have seen before. Gorsuch authored the 2020 Bostock decision that rewrote Title VII to cover gender identity. Roberts has repeatedly provided the fifth or sixth vote for progressive outcomes on everything from DACA to abortion jurisdiction. Kavanaugh, cast as the fiery originalist during his confirmation fight, has proven far more comfortable in the institutional middle. The promised realignment — the reason grassroots conservatives swallowed uncomfortable compromises and fought brutal confirmation battles — never materialized.
And the Court's leftward drift isn't limited to gender ideology. The Daily Caller reports that gun-control organizations are now openly asking the Supreme Court to overturn Heller, its landmark 2008 ruling affirming the individual right to keep firearms. Two groups — Americans Against Gun Violence and the American Enlightenment Project — filed amicus briefs in cases challenging semiautomatic firearm bans from Cook County, Illinois, and Connecticut, arguing that Heller was "egregiously flawed" and created a "gun crisis." One brief actually cited England's current gun laws as evidence the Founders never meant to protect individual gun ownership — an argument that would have baffled every man who took up arms at Lexington.
The Court granted cert on the firearm ban cases, meaning it will hear arguments on whether so-called assault weapons bans are constitutional. Roughly 40 amicus briefs were filed in support of the Second Amendment challenge, including from 27 states, the DOJ, and multiple members of Congress. But the fact that repeal-Heller arguments are now being entertained rather than dismissed outright tells you where the institutional wind is blowing.
Two justices dissented from the transgender-prisoner stay denial. Two. The other seven — including every justice conservatives were told would change the Court — went along. No explanation. No opinion. Just an order, and a green light for forcing the public to pay for gender transitions behind bars.
The conservative legal movement spent decades building a pipeline, raising money, and promising that if voters just got the right justices on the Court, the Constitution would be restored. The justices are seated. The Constitution is still waiting.
