The conservative-majority United States Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal from the Trump administration asking it to allow it to apply a more restrictive policy towards transgender people in custody in federal prisons.
President Donald Trump, who promised during his campaign in 2024 to put an end to what he denounces as the “transgender delirium”, signed a decree on the day of his inauguration according to which his administration would now only recognize the existence of “two sexes, male and female”, defined at birth.
Supreme Court yet conservative
His government then reversed a series of gains made by transgender people, including in prison, by ordering the transfer of transgender prisoners from women’s establishments to men’s establishments. But a federal judge blocked this decision in 2025, then more generally the policy adopted in 2026 by the federal prison administration removing prisoners’ access to surgical operations or hormonal treatments for gender transition, as well as “support” measures, such as the provision of wigs or makeup.
In a rare unmotivated decision favorable to the rights of transgender people, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the appeal filed in September by the government to allow it to apply this policy, without ruling on the merits. Only the most conservative judges, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissociate themselves from the position of the Court, which has a majority of six conservatives against three progressives.
