Trans prisoners’ medical care remains protected after a flurry of court rulings on Wednesday

A D.C. Circuit ruling would have allowed the Trump admin’s anti-trans policy to go into effect, but a new district court injunction issued hours later blocked the policy yet again.

Chris Geidner

The Trump administration’s effort to end gender-affirming medical care for transgender people in federal prison is blocked again after a short lapse in protections on Wednesday.

About noon Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a 2-1 order that for two-and-a-half hours technically allowed the Trump administration to begin implementing the Federal Bureau of Prisons’s plan to “taper” — with a goal of ending — the provision of hormone therapy for transgender people in federal prison.

About 2:30 p.m., though, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted a request that had been pending from the plaintiffs challenging the BOP policy and issued a new preliminary injunction blocking the plan.

This was not the actions of a “rogue” judge or anything like that. The appeals court judges had even noted that the district court request was pending, but Judges Karen Henderson, a George W. Bush appointee, and Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, nonetheless issued the ruling on Wednesday — over the dissent of Judge Cornelia PIllard, an Obama appointee.

The D.C. Circuit move effectively forced Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, to act quickly if he wanted to keep the protections he had ordered in place.

He did so — continuing his role as the federal judge most clearly protecting the rights of trans people in prison.

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