Two justices wanted the Trump administration’s new federal prison rules to take effect immediately. The Supreme Court declined to let that happen.
On Wednesday, the Court denied an emergency application from the administration.
The denial leaves in place a lower court order that bars the Federal Bureau of Prisons from enforcing its policy on transgender inmates while the lawsuit moves forward.
The unsigned order ran only a few lines.
It reads: “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.”
The order names no other justice’s position and offers no explanation for the decision.
The dispute centers on a policy the Bureau of Prisons adopted in February 2026.
The rules restrict three categories of care and accommodation for inmates who identify as transgender: hormone drugs, “social accommodations” and surgery.
On hormones, the policy bars inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria from starting treatment in prison if they have never taken hormones before.
Inmates who arrived already taking them would move onto a tapering plan.
The policy defines social accommodations as items used to “alter the person’s appearance to align with the person’s ‘gender identity.’”
The bureau’s list includes buttock padding, breast padding, binders, undergarments, makeup and wigs.
Inmates who currently receive those items would lose access to them through the prison. The bureau also said it would issue no new accommodations.
The policy rules out surgery as well.
For inmates who already had sex change procedures, the bureau said it would continue to treat complications such as pelvic infections and urethral stricture.
The policy affects a sizable group. As of February 2025, the Bureau of Prisons reported 2,198 inmates who identify as transgender in federal custody.
President Donald Trump set the policy’s backdrop on his first day back in office.
He signed an 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 bureau’s policy followed just over a year later.
The bureau has said it adopted the 2026 policy “independently of” that executive order.
Three inmates who identify as transgender then filed a class action in federal court challenging the policy.
Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled on August 26 that the bureau could not implement it. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld his order.
The administration took the fight to the Supreme Court on September 28.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices 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,” according to SCOTUSblog.
The inmates answered with their own filing.
They described the administration’s request as an attempt “to overturn a three decades-long status quo,” and they said the bureau never gave a “reasoned explanation” for its decision.
They also told the Court that a pause on the lower court’s order would cause them permanent harm.
The Bureau of Prisons does not provide elective cosmetic surgery to inmates unless an inmate claims to be transgender.
Wednesday’s order keeps the lower court’s block on the policy in place as the legal proceedings continue.
