US Judge Royce Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday barring the Federal Bureau of Prisons from implementing an executive order that would deny gender-affirming care to transgender inmates. The judge reasoned that enforcing the order could cause irreparable harm to the inmates by denying them medically necessary treatment. He found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claim that the executive order violated their constitutional rights.
President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14168 in January, ordering federal agencies to stop using federal funds for gender-affirming treatments. Since the Bureau of Prisons is a federal agency, this order also called for transgender women to be housed in men’s prisons.
Together, the Transgender Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a class action lawsuit in March on behalf of the 2,000+ transgender individuals who are in federal prisons. The lawsuit, argues that the executive order violates their constitutional rights, including their rights under the Eighth Amendment’s protection from cruel and unusual punishment.
The preliminary injunction temporarily halts the enforcement of Executive Order 14168 within federal prisons, allowing gender-affirming care to continue while the legal challenge proceeds.
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