DOJ asks Supreme Court to allow policy ending medical treatments for transgender inmates

The Trump Justice Department on Monday asked the Supreme Court to a Bureau of Prisons policy that cuts off federally-funded medical interventions and social accommodations for transgender inmates to go forward.

The department's emergency appeal follows a federal district court order last month that continued to prohibit the bureau from enforcing its new rules against an inmate who is or will be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, according to CBS News. 

The judge overseeing a challenge to the policy, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, ordered the Trump administration to continue providing medical care to a class of transgender inmates.

A group of inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria filed a lawsuit last year after President Trump issued an executive order at the start of his second term that prohibited the use of federal funds for medical procedures or treatments for transgender inmates within the federal prison system.

Following the directive, the bureau issued new guidance that prohibited staff from granting requests for clothing accommodations for those inmates and barred the use of federal money for medical interventions.

In February, the bureau then issued a new policy – which stated the policy was independent of Trump's executive order – saying the bureau would continue providing mental health services for such inmates but not surgeries, hormone therapy or social accommodations such as wigs or chest binders.

Lamberth agreed in June to block the new rules and ordered the bureau to continue providing medical treatments to transgender inmates. 

The Justice Department appealed, and earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to restore the policy while proceedings moved forward.