Supreme Court rules American taxpayers MUST FUND sex changes for 'trans' prisoners

The Supreme Court on Wednesday kept in place a block on the Trump administration enforcing new restrictions that prevented the use of taxpayer funds on medical treatments and “social accommodations” for trans-identified prisoners. The Court stated that the federal government, funded by US taxpayers, must continue to pay for sex changes for allegedly trans-identified inmates in federal prisons.

In a brief, unsigned order, the court stated, "the application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied. Justice Thomas and Justice Alito would grant the application for stay." As of February 2025, there were 2,198 trans-identified inmates being held in federal prisons, the BOP said.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons adopted a policy in February that stated it will not provide sex change drugs to inmates or provide “social accommodations,” such as make-up, ladies lingerie, or other items. It said that inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria who have never taken hormones before will not be able to start them while in prison, and those who came to prison taking them would be placed on a tapering plan. 

The bureau said that inmates receiving social accommodations would no longer get them from the prison, and no new social accommodations would be provided. Social accommodations are items that are used to “alter the person’s appearance to align with the person’s ‘gender identity,’” the policy states. Such items include buttock padding, breast padding, binders, undergarments, makeup, and wigs.

The bureau said it would not be providing sex change surgeries to its inmates either, and for those who have already received such surgeries, the bureau said it would provide medical care for complications that arise, such as pelvic infections and urethral stricture. 

The policy was adopted just over a year after Trump signed a day-one executive order directing the attorney general to “ensure that no Federal funds are expended for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.” The BOP said that the 2026 policy was adopted “independently of” the executive order. 

A class action lawsuit was filed in federal court by three trans-identified inmates over the order from the BOP. Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a ruling on August 26 blocking the BOP from implementing the policy, and the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the order. 

The Trump administration asked the court on September 28 to pause the lower court’s order, with US Solicitor General D John Sauer telling the Supreme Court that the district court had “substitut[ed] its own policy judgment for that of the” BOP, “rel[ied] on evidence outside the administrative record, and fault[ed] the agency for following presidential directions,” per SCOTUSblog.

The inmates said the administration was asking the justices to “to overturn a three decades-long status quo,” and said that the BOP had not provided a “reasoned explanation” for its decision. The inmates said that they would be permanently harmed if the lower court’s order was paused. The Bureau of Prisons does not provide elective cosmetic surgery unless the inmate claims to be transgender.

The Supreme Court’s Wednesday ruling keeps the lower court’s pause on the order in place while legal proceedings continue.