Court Blocks Trump Administration From Transferring 14 Trans Women to Men’s Prison
It comes after an executive order directing the government to classify all people by their sex assigned at birth.
A recent ruling by a federal court blocks the Trump administration’s Bureau of Prisons from transferring 14 transgender women to men’s prisons, where advocates say they would face a high risk of rape and violence.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction on Sunday in the case Doe v. Blanche that stopped the policy, which forced incarcerated trans women to be housed in men’s prisons regardless of safety concerns or risk of assault.
Lamberth’s ruling comes as the latest development in the case. He had previously blocked the transfers before, but his decision was appealed and sent back to him.
Trump administration lawyers argued that the policy was in line with a 2025 executive order in which President Donald Trump directed the federal government to classify all people based on their sex assigned at birth, regardless of gender identity.
GLAD Law, which helped represent the women in the case, said in a press release that the policy contradicts the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which had required an individual assessment for placement decisions due to incarcerated trans people being ten times more likely than the general prison population to be sexually abused or assaulted.
“This ruling could not be more consequential. The women protected by this order face the most horrific consequences imaginable if transferred: violence, sexual assault, and grave harm to their physical safety and well-being,” Jennifer Levi, GLAD Law’s senior director of transgender and queer rights, said. “This case sits at the center of some of the most brutal attacks this administration has launched against a vulnerable group of transgender people who are among those least able to protect themselves. These women are serving their time and do not deserve the double punishment of knowingly putting them in grave danger. Deliberately placing vulnerable people in harm’s way is not strength, it’s cowardice.”
Lawyers for the National Center for LGBTQ+ Rights also helped represent the women in the case. The organization’s legal director, Shannon Minter, said the ruling emphasizes that the government cannot knowingly put people in harm’s way.
“Officials are not free to ignore documented risks of rape and violence because of who someone is,” Minter said. “These women have the right to serve their sentences without being subjected to assault, and the court has rightly held that the law requires the government to assess and respond to the real dangers they face—not look the other way.”
The injunction only applies to the 14 women in the case.
