A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from transferring more than a dozen transgender inmates, all biological males currently housed in women’s prisons across the country, back to men’s correctional facilities.This week’s development in the closely watched case comes as female inmates from another high-profile lawsuit look to join the legal fight after they prevailed in cordoning off the men confined with them.As the two judges overseeing the cases try to respect each other’s court orders, their differing decisions could lead to a circuit court clash attracting Supreme Court scrutiny.
Male prisoners secure pause on removal from female facilities
Judge Royce Lamberth, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, granted 14 biologically male plaintiffs, who identify as women, a preliminary injunction that temporarily prevents the Federal Bureau of Prisons from moving them to male-designated penitentiaries in accordance with President Donald Trump’s directive to separate federal prisons by biological sex.
The transgender litigants in Jane Doe v. Blanche were given temporary relief by Lamberth before, when they initially challenged their impending transfers in January 2025, but an appeals court later vacated those protections.
