Court Blocks Trump’s Policy Targeting Trans Prisoners

The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to block a lower-court injunction against its policy restricting treatment for transgender inmates in federal prison. About 1,000 transgender inmates are in federal custody. Under the blocked policy, the Bureau of Prisons can’t bar gender-transition surgeries, hormone treatments or social accommodations.

Inmates Challenge the Policy

A group of transgender inmates sued with support from the American Civil Liberties Union, arguing the government hadn’t adequately explained the change and had violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Lead plaintiffs Alishea Kingdom, Jas Kapule and Solo Nichols had received hormone treatment for several years. ACLU lawyers said the Bureau of Prisons had provided hormone therapy since 1992 and gradually expanded access to other treatments and accommodations. The unexplained change, they wrote, “gives rise to the inference that the agency’s purported reasons were not its actual reasons.”

Trump’s January 2025 executive order directed federal agencies not to acknowledge gender identity outside the “immutable biological classification” of male or female. The Bureau of Prisons said in several announcements over the last 18 months that it wouldn’t provide gender-transition surgery, hormone treatments or social accommodations such as wigs, padding or makeup.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Republican appointee, blocked the policy earlier this year. He wrote that the government cited “zero evidence from its own medical or mental health professionals” and offered no evidence the previous plan was “ineffective or harmful.” He also found the proposal appeared engineered to comply with Trump’s executive order, with its stated reasons pretextual.

The administration argued that the lower court was “substituting its own policy judgment for that of the agency,” according to Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s court papers. The Supreme Court’s brief order gave no explanation. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have granted the administration’s request.

Pressure on Voters and Journalists

Democrats filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Justice Department, alleging the administration was unlawfully interfering with the midterms by pressuring states to remove voters from their rolls. The complaint alleges officials directed a “persistent stream of threats and intimidation” at state and local election officials. The case puts the dispute inside the same election machinery whose officials, the complaint says, faced pressure from the administration.

Trump also discussed moving the White House press corps to another building, two people close to him said. No final decision had been made. White House communications director Steven Cheung said, “All options remain on the table, and we will make an announcement when appropriate.”

The discussion follows disputes over journalists’ access. Last month, Trump attempted to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House complex, accusing them of unfair coverage. A federal judge reinstated their press credentials, finding the ban likely violated the First Amendment and the outlets’ right to due process. The administration has continued periodically to block CNN from the television press pool.

The White House also barred the Associated Press from the Oval Office and some other spaces because the wire service declined to use Trump’s preferred term, the Gulf of America, for the Gulf of Mexico. At the Pentagon, most news organizations refused restrictions that included a promise not to “solicit” sensitive information and left the building. After a judge struck down those restrictions, the military said reporters could no longer enter the Pentagon unescorted.

Bills, Campaigns and Executive Power

Trump was scheduled to travel to South Carolina for a rally at Clemson University supporting appointed Sen. Darline Graham, who is running for a full term against Democrat Annie Andrews. Graham assumed the remainder of her late brother Sen. Lindsey Graham’s term and became the Republican Senate nominee after defeating Rep. Ralph Norman by about five percentage points in a primary runoff. The race isn’t considered a battleground. South Carolina went to Trump in 2024 by nearly 18 percentage points.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, Trump signed 10 bills into law covering Social Security, online dating scams, human trafficking, domestic manufacturing and land transfers. The Clergy Act gives eligible clergy members who previously opted out of Social Security a two-year period to apply to the Internal Revenue Service to revoke their exemption and rejoin coverage.

Other measures transfer federal land without payment. One gives approximately 1,082.63 acres in Washington to the Lower Elwha Tribal Community, also called the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, to become part of the Lower Elwha Indian Reservation and return to tribal trust status. Another requires the transfer of approximately 3.372 acres of federally owned property in Anchorage to the Southcentral Foundation for health and social-services programs, without payment for the property.

The Supreme Court ruling is a rare recent win for transgender advocates. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority; it upheld state bans on transgender athletes competing in women’s and girls’ sports, backed state laws banning gender-transition treatments for transgender youths, and allowed Trump to implement a ban on transgender people serving in the military.