A federal judge intensely questioned the Trump administration's policy restricting transgender medical care in prisons during a hearing that highlighted clashes over categorical bans versus individualized claims. The case involves violent offenders among the class of 600 inmates with gender dysphoria.
During a hearing in Washington, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth , an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, repeatedly pressed the Department of Justice attorney M. Jared Littman about the administration's policy restricting transgender-related medical care in federal prisons .
Littman argued the policy is not a categorical ban because inmates receive individualized tapering plans and case-by-case review. He insisted that the only categorical relief sought is the categorical relief the plaintiffs request, arguing that inmates must bring individualized Eighth Amendment claims rather than attempt to block the policy entirely through a class-action suit. The hearing focused on surgeries and drugs intended to help prisoners conform to the opposite sex.
The injunctive relief offered by the judge so far, which applies classwide, effectively requires the Bureau of Prisons to maintain its current practices while the litigation continues. On Tuesday, Lamberth temporarily renewed an existing injunction blocking enforcement of portions of Trump's executive order restricting transgender prison treatments while he considers the inmates' request for an updated preliminary injunction.
The litigation has become one of the administration's most closely followed prison-policy fights, partly because the class includes violent offenders and gang members seeking continued access to taxpayer-funded hormone drugs and transgender accommodations. There are around 600 inmates across federal prisons who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, according to federal prison data.
Among them is a convicted murderer who was involved in the 2016 killing of a 14-year-old boy in Virginia and now identifies as a transgender woman while incarcerated. The case revolves around updated federal prison guidelines that the government contends have replaced earlier guidance issued under an executive order that Lamberth initially enjoined last June.
Under the updated guidelines, the Bureau of Prisons bars sex reassignment surgeries and social accommodations while generally requiring inmates currently receiving cross-sex hormones to taper off treatment over time. The government's legal filing asserts that the BOP policy followed an extensive review of medical studies, prison-security concerns, and debates surrounding gender dysphoria treatment. The filing said prison officials concluded that psychotherapy, trauma treatment, and psychotropic medications were safer and more appropriate approaches in the prison setting.
Michael Perloff, representing the class of transgender inmates, argued Wednesday that the policy is effectively a blanket ban because every inmate receiving hormone therapy is still expected to stop treatment eventually. Perloff stated: The policy categorically intends to get everyone off hormone therapies we're currently on.
He argued that the individualized tapering plans discussed by the government merely manage withdrawal symptoms rather than allow doctors to determine on an individualized basis whether hormone therapy remains medically necessary for a particular inmate. This hearing follows a related case where Judge Lamberth blocked the Trump administration from transferring biological men who identify as women into men's prisons on May 20. In that case, plaintiffs saw a setback after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit ruled that transgender-identifying inmates cannot rely solely on broad categorical arguments. Instead, the appeals court found they must show individualized risks of harm, a theme that DOJ attorney Littman repeatedly invoked during Wednesday's hearing over the government's bid to cease transgender operations and treatments in prisons. At the close of Wednesday's hearing, Lamberth said he would move quickly but did not indicate when he would issue his order
Transgender Inmates Federal Prisons Bureau Of Prisons Gender Dysphoria Hormone Therapy Sex Reassignment Surgery Eighth Amendment Class-Action Lawsuit Judge Royce Lamberth Trump Administration Preliminary Injunction Individualized Claims Tapering Plans
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