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The feds must continue to provide gender-affirming care to transgender people in federal prisons, for now. The Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling that had prevented the federal prison system from implementing a ban. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/u...

The new policy, which the federal prison system published in February, would have forced transgender people on hormone medications to taper off them, and prevented access to clothing and toiletry items that align with their gender identities. www.themarshallproject.org/2026/02/19/t...

The policy stemmed from Trump’s January executive order declaring “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” www.themarshallproject.org/2025/01/23/t...

The executive order and the various ways federal prison officials have tried to implement it (including attempts to ship more than a dozen transgender women from women’s prisons to men’s prisons) have all been challenged in court. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/02/21/t...

Most of the new policies have been blocked in lower courts. These blocks, called “preliminary injunctions,” are temporary while the cases proceed. The administration appealed this preliminary injunction to SCOTUS, which today declined to overturn it. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/06/03/j...

This is the same SCOTUS that last year ruled states could prevent transgender minors from accessing medical transition care. www.oyez.org/cases/2024/2...

It’s the same SCOTUS that this year said states can bar transgender athletes from girls’ and womens’ sports. www.scotusblog.com/2026/06/cour...

So allowing the block to stay in place — which effectively requires the Bureau of Prisons to continue providing gender-affirming care to transgender people in federal prison for now — was a sharp departure from this court’s recent history.