Setback for Trump as Supreme Court deals DOJ huge blow on emergency appeal

President Donald Trump talks to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The Supreme Court, increasingly known for its deference to President Donald Trump's agenda, handed him a surprising new loss, denying his administration the ability to move forward with a contentious new policy as a legal challenge plays out.

In a new decision handed down on Wednesday, the Court ruled that the Trump administration could not immediately proceed with a plan to deny gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in federal prisons, though the case challenging the new policy is still moving forward. The decision was made via a 7-2 vote, with the court's most conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissenting.

The ruling did not include any sort of explanation, which a report from USA Today noted is common for decisions made based on emergency requests.

"Transgender inmates incarcerated at federal correctional institutions in New Jersey, Florida and Minnesota filed a class action lawsuit challenging the rules," the report detailed further. "Under the policy, announced by the Bureau of Prisons in February, transgender inmates can no longer receive surgical or hormonal treatments. They are also not allowed 'social accommodations,' such as makeup and wigs."

The report continued: "The Justice Department said the changes 'reflect the latest scientific information' about treatments for gender dysphoria and are needed 'to maintain institutional security.' The government’s concerns include the potential for turning inmates into targets for attacks, breeding resentment among other inmates and undermining the bureau’s 'reasonable practice of refusing to reward threats of self-harm.'"

NBC News noted that the administration's claims about the changing scientific consensus behind gender affirming care have been "heavily contested by transgender rights advocates."

"In an emergency appeal, the Justice Department told the Supreme Court that the judge’s 'demand for additional evidence' conflicts with the 'double deference' that the Bureau of Prisons is due in this context," NBC News explained. "Lawyers for the transgender inmates countered that the government hadn’t shown it would be harmed unless the policy can be immediately implemented. By contrast, the nearly 1,000 affected inmates face a 'serious risk of worsening gender dysphoria as well as other mental health symptoms including depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidality,' their lawyers said."

The policy change is part of the administration's broader attempt to rein in transgender rights, beginning from the very first day of Trump's second term, when he signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to "recognize two sexes, male and female,” and declaring that “these sexes are not changeable.”

While this decision marks something of a setback for the administration, as USA Today noted, the conservative-led Supreme Court has a long history of backing Trump's efforts to target transgender individuals. It previously ruled that the administration could exclude trans people from military service and require that passports list the gender someone was assigned at birth. More recently, the court also ruled that states are allowed to block trans athletes from participating in women's sports and could ban gender-affirming care for minors.

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