A federal judge is anticipated to make a decision on Tuesday concerning a motion to temporarily prevent prison authorities from relocating three incarcerated transgender women to men’s facilities and discontinuing their hormone therapy access, which is in line with an executive order issued by former President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, located in Washington, D.C., indicated that he intends to deliver a formal ruling following arguments made by the plaintiffs’ attorney, who claims that Trump’s order discriminates against transgender individuals and infringes on their constitutional rights.
The lawsuit represents three transgender women who were previously placed in women’s facilities prior to Trump’s order being enacted on January 20, his first day back in office.
Earlier on January 26, a federal judge in Boston granted a restraining order in a different case challenging the same executive order. However, that order specifically pertained to one transgender woman in a women’s prison.
According to Trump’s order, the federal Bureau of Prisons must ensure that “males are not detained in women’s prisons.” It also mandates revised medical care policies aimed at preventing federal funds from being used to alter an inmate’s appearance to align with the opposite sex.
John Robinson, an attorney representing the Justice Department, stated that prison officials possess “broad discretion” regarding inmate placement decisions.
The legal representatives for the plaintiffs contended that transferring the women to a men’s prison would endanger their safety and subject them to potential psychological trauma.
Moreover, Trump’s order threatens to cut off the plaintiffs’ access to hormone therapy, a crucial treatment for those experiencing gender dysphoria—a condition linked with feelings of incongruence between assigned gender and personal identity, often resulting in depression or suicidal ideation.
The plaintiffs, referred to by pseudonyms in court documents, are represented by legal teams from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, based in San Francisco, as well as GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) from Boston.
Previously housed in women’s units for an extended period, the plaintiffs were relocated in January to await transfers to men’s facilities, after being separated from the general population of female inmates.
“They were frightened at the thought of these transfers, given the significant risk of violence and sexual assault they could encounter in men’s prisons,” stated GLAD attorney Jennifer Levi during the proceedings.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys asserted that Trump’s order breaches their clients’ constitutional rights to equal protection under the law and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
