Trump Administration Wants Supreme Court to Block Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Inmates

The administration of President Donald Trump is again trying to get the United States Supreme Court to deny gender-affirming care to some transgender Americans.

On Monday, the Department of Justice asked the court to allow it to stop gender-affirming care for trans incarcerated people in federal prisons.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the filing that gender-affirming care for trans inmates would put “institutional security” at risk.

The Independent notes that the focus on so-called “security” is similar to the administration’s use of “security” as a way to make legal arguments from the White House ballroom to the 250-foot arch Trump wants in D.C.

In an emergency appeal filed with the court after a federal district court ordered the administration to continue providing care for those in the U.S. prison system.

The case comes after a group of trans inmates sued the government last year after Trump’s executive order prohibited federal dollars from being used for incarcerated transgender people. The federal Bureau of Prisons then issued policies banning staff from requesting clothing accommodations or gender-affirming care.

In February, the bureau added to the policies against trans incarcerated people, by specifying that it would provide mental health services for trans inmates, but not surgeries, hormone therapy, chest binders, wigs, or breast padding.

Related: Appeals Court Clears The Way For Trans Women Inmates To Be Transferred To Men’s Facilities

The plaintiffs in that case, Kingdom v. Trump, argue the policies violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishments,” which federal courts have long held includes the denial of medically necessary health care, including access to gender-affirming care, according to the ACLU.

In June, Judge Royce C. Lamberth, a Reagan-appointed District Court judge, ruled that the enforcement of the executive order to deny gender-affirming care was not based on any “reasoned” explanation or analysis.

“The administration’s policy is a direct threat to the well-being of transgender people in federal custody and an open violation of their fundamental rights,” the Transgender Law Center and ACLU, which are representing plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement, according to the Independent.

“The withholding of medically necessary health care, including gender-affirming health care, from people in prison violates their Constitutional right to serve their sentence free of cruel and unusual punishment,” they said. “We will continue to defend the rights of our clients and all incarcerated people.”