A federal judge has once again blocked the Trump administration from transferring transgender women in federal custody to men’s prisons, ruling that the policy could place them at serious risk of violence and harm.
In a decision issued Sunday, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted a preliminary injunction protecting 14 transgender women currently housed in women’s prisons and halfway houses. The ruling prevents the Federal Bureau of Prisons from enforcing part of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14168 against those plaintiffs. The order directs the Bureau of Prisons to maintain the women’s current placements in women’s prisons and halfway houses while the litigation proceeds. The executive order by Trump, signed January 20, 2025, demands that federal agencies to recognize only two sexes and requires prisons to house incarcerated people according to the sex assigned at birth.
The court cited evidence showing the women could face heightened risks of physical violence, sexual assault, psychological distress, and self-harm. Lamberth wrote that the plaintiffs were newly arrived, visibly feminized transgender women coming from a women’s prison and therefore especially vulnerable. The judge also rejected the government’s argument that any harm could simply be treated afterward. LGBTQ legal advocates praised the ruling. The injunction, however, applies only to the 14 women involved in the lawsuit.
