The First Amendment Must Apply to Everyone Equally. In Minnesota, It Apparently Doesn't.
MN Lawmaker Claims Senate Candidate Bothered Him for Endorsement As He Recovered From...
Republicans Will Jump for Joy If This Kamala Harris Rumor Is True
The Questions About the Delay Regarding the Presser About the Seattle Shooting Rattle...
Why a Former FDA Official Got Very Uncomfortable During This Interview on CNBC
Well, This Florida State House Rep Really Screwed Her Party
Until John Thune Gets This Through His Head, He'll Continue to Get Cooked...
Did You Catch John Thune's Remarks About the Filibuster From His Interview With...
Were These People Always This Crazy?
A Major Earthquake Hit Southern Japan. Here's What We Know.
Inside Meta's Bet on the Dignity of Work
ICAST 2026: Sen. Graham's Legacy, Expanding Access, and Sharks
What’s on Your Mind?
Catch and Release, Wisconsin Style
Taking Our Right to Speak Freely for Granted
Tipsheet

This Judge Just Decided That You Should Pay for 'Gender-Affirming Care' for Prison Inmates

This Judge Just Decided That You Should Pay for 'Gender-Affirming Care' for Prison Inmates
welcomia/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Because of a federal judge’s ruling, you will be on the hook for providing “gender-affirming care” to incarcerated trans-identified individuals serving time in prison.

Advertisement

US District Judge Royce Lambert on Tuesday ruled that the US Bureau of Prisons must continue providing trans-identified inmates with “gender-affirming care,” counteracting one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders to halt funding for these treatments.

From NBC News:

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.C., allowed a group of more than 2,000 transgender inmates in federal prisons to pursue a lawsuit challenging the order as a class action. He ordered the Bureau of Prisons to provide them with hormone therapy and accommodations such as clothing and hair-removal devices while the lawsuit plays out.

The ruling does not require the bureau to provide surgical care related to gender transitions.

However, this is not the end of the story. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told NBC News that the court’s ruling “fundamentally makes women less safe and ignores the biological truth that there are only two genders.” He indicated that the administration will appeal the ruling.

Advertisement

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has launched numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration, celebrated the ruling as “a critical reminder to the Trump administration that trans people, like all people, have constitutional rights that don’t simply disappear because the president has decided to wage an ideological battle.”

Lamberth, appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, said in Tuesday’s ruling that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their lawsuit because the bureau did not perform any analysis before cutting off treatment that its own medical staff had previously deemed to be medically appropriate for the inmates.

Even if it had extensively studied the issue before deciding to stop gender-affirming care, the decision might still violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment’s protections against “cruel and unusual” punishment, Lamberth wrote.

The Department of Justice had argued that the judge should defer to the policy decision of a democratically elected president, but Lamberth said a functioning democracy requires respect for “all duly enacted laws,” including those that blocked the executive branch from acting in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner.

Democratic self-governance “does not mean blind submission to the whims of the most recent election-victor,” Lamberth wrote.

Advertisement

This development comes as another federal judge issued a temporary injunction against the State of Idaho’s enforcement of a law that would prohibit state-funded “gender-affirming care” for prison inmates.

This is yet another example of leftists using lawfare to impede the president’s agenda. It seems likely that the White House will prevail in the end — but until that happens, taxpayer funds will continue to be used to affirm progressive gender ideology in federal prisons.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos