A U.S. federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a policy that would transfer transgender women to men’s prisons and end their access to gender-affirming healthcare, Reuters reported.
In a ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth found that three transgender inmates who challenged the order were likely to succeed in proving that the policy was unconstitutional. The decision prevents the U.S. Bureau of Prisons from implementing the executive order that former President Donald Trump signed on January 20, his first day back in office.
Lamberth’s ruling extends protections to all 16 transgender women currently housed in federal women’s prisons, going beyond a previous ruling by a Boston judge that halted the transfer of a single inmate.
The plaintiffs argued that placing transgender women in men’s prisons would expose them to heightened risks of violence and sexual assault, violating their Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit also claimed that Trump’s order discriminates based on sex, violating the Fifth Amendment.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the ruling, while the Bureau of Prisons has yet to respond. The Biden administration had previously implemented policies requiring prisons to consider inmates’ gender identity in placement decisions, reversing Trump-era rules from his first term.
There are currently over 2,200 transgender inmates in federal custody, with the majority—1,506—being transgender women, most of whom are housed in men’s prisons.
