CNN
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A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing its anti-trans prison policy against three transgender women currently housed in women’s facilities at federal prisons.
Tuesday’s ruling from US District Judge Royce Lamberth represents another legal setback for a divisive executive order issued by President Donald Trump on his first day in office.
Among other things, the executive order from Trump requires officials to ensure that transgender women detained in federal facilities be housed in men’s facilities and prohibits the Bureau of Prisons from providing gender-affirming care to inmates.
Three transgender women currently housed in women’s facilities sued over the policy, alleging it represented unconstitutional sex-based discrimination and violates their protections against cruel and unusual punishment “given the serious risk of violence and sexual assault” they’ll face in men’s facilities, their attorney, Jennifer Levi, told the judge during a hearing on Tuesday.
In an 11-page ruling granting the inmates’ request for a temporary restraining order, Lamberth agreed that their safety could be at risk if they were transferred to men’s facilities and said that they would likely succeed on their cruel and unusual punishment claims during a later stage in the litigation.
“With respect to the transfer provision, the plaintiffs cited to various government reports and regulations recognizing that transgender persons are at a significantly elevated risk of physical and sexual violence relative to other inmates when housed in a facility corresponding to their biological sex — which the defendants do not dispute,” he wrote.
Lamberth said that prison officials “shall maintain and continue the plaintiffs’ housing status and medical care as they existed immediately prior to January 20, 2025.”
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