US Supreme Court blocks Trump plan to keep transgender women out of women's prisons and curb hormone therapy

The court voted 7-2 to reject the Justice Department's emergency request, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito the sole dissenters. The brief order offered no reasoning. The February policy prohibited medical and surgical treatment as well as 'social accommodations' — covering items like clothing and hair-removal products — for transgender federal inmates. A lower court's injunction remains in force while litigation proceeds.

The class action was brought by three transgender inmates from New Jersey, Florida and Minnesota.

Plaintiffs say hormone therapy for gender dysphoria has been available in federal prisons going back to at least 1992.

For inmates already receiving hormone therapy, the policy required 'tapering' of that treatment.