The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to let federal prison officials stop providing sex-change surgeries and hormone treatments to inmates — putting the burden back on the activist courts that decided cosmetic procedures for convicts are a constitutional right taxpayers must fund.
Why it matters: A single federal judge decided that prisoners are entitled to genital surgeries, hormone therapy, and accessories like wigs and chest binders — all on the public dime — while law-abiding citizens across the country ration their own basic medications. The DOJ is now asking the high court to step in and restore a policy that limits prison medical care to psychotherapy and psychiatry for inmates with gender dysphoria.
President Trump's January 2025 executive order directed the Bureau of Prisons to end transgender surgical procedures, hormone therapy, and social accommodations in federal facilities. The BOP complied, issuing a policy that permits mental-health treatment but cuts off surgeries, hormones, chest binders, wigs, makeup, and breast padding.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth blocked that policy in June, ordering the BOP to keep providing the full suite of treatments. The D.C. Circuit upheld the block earlier this month, concluding the administration's policy was likely
