The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling today that prevents the immediate transfer of eighteen transgender women from female to male federal prisons.
The decision, authored by Circuit Judge Pillard, vacates earlier preliminary injunctions but remands the case to the district court for further fact-finding regarding the specific safety risks faced by the individual plaintiffs.
The legal battle began following Executive Order 14,168, issued on January 20, 2025. The order directed the Attorney General to “ensure that males”—defined by biological sex at conception—are not detained in women’s facilities.
In response, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) moved to transfer the eighteen plaintiffs, who represent a tiny fraction of the transgender women in federal custody. Unlike the majority of transgender inmates already housed in men’s facilities, these eighteen women had previously been assigned to women’s prisons by the BOP following individualized assessments.
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The plaintiffs sued to block the moves, arguing that placement in men’s facilities would violate the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
They cited “substantial risk of grave harm,” including physical and sexual violence, as well as severe psychiatric harm and the worsening of gender dysphoria. Several plaintiffs provided testimony of past rapes, assaults, and suicide attempts while previously held in male institutions.
While the district court originally blocked the transfers by suggesting that transgender women generally face unconstitutional risks in men’s prisons, the D.C. Circuit clarified that the law requires a more tailored approach.
The plaintiffs themselves did not argue that the Constitution requires all transgender women to be in women’s prisons. Instead, they argued that their specific medical histories—including long-term hormone therapy and surgeries—and past experiences with violence made them uniquely vulnerable.
Judge Pillard noted that because the existing record lacked specific findings about these individual vulnerabilities, the case must go back to the lower court. “The district court remains free to consider, as it deems appropriate, whether plaintiffs may be entitled to relief on those or other available grounds,” the opinion stated.
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The court also addressed the government’s argument that the prisoners had failed to exhaust “available” administrative remedies before suing.
The court disagreed with the government, finding that the BOP’s grievance procedures were essentially a “dead end” in this case because the transfers were mandated by a presidential order that prison officials had no power to change. The court observed that “a prospective violation of a constitutional right constitutes irreparable injury.”
Senior Circuit Judge Randolph filed a dissenting opinion, arguing that the cases should have been dismissed entirely because the plaintiffs did not use the internal prison grievance system first. He also contended that the district court lacked the authority to keep renewing the temporary blocks on the transfers.
For now, the eighteen trans prisoners will not be moved while the district court conducts a deeper review of their individual safety needs and medical conditions.
The ruling emphasizes that the Bureau of Prisons had previously determined these specific women should be in female facilities for a “variety of reasons,” and the court will now look closer at whether those reasons involve constitutional safety requirements.
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