In the latest act of judicial overreach, a rogue lower court judge ordered the Trump administration to restore federal prisoners’ access to transgender-related “treatments” and accommodations on Tuesday.
Writing for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, granted petitioners’ request for a preliminary injunction on the Trump administration’s policy ensuring that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) expends “no Federal funds … for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.” The left-wing Associated Press once described Lamberth as “among the toughest judges” when it came to sentencing defendants charged over the Jan. 6, 2021, demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol.
The suit was brought by three trans-identifying inmates “who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria by BOP medical staff,” according to Tuesday’s ruling.
In his decision, Lamberth ruled that, throughout the course of the trial, the BOP is “required to restore and maintain access to those treatment modalities for those who previously received them pursuant to a prescription rendered by BOP staff.” He further declared that “if BOP medical personnel subsequently determine that an existing or future class member is in need of either or both of those treatment modalities, the BOP may not take those treatment options off the table while this dispute is pending.”
“The import of the Opinion is essentially this: Under the [Administrative Procedure Act], the BOP may not arbitrarily deprive inmates of medications or other lifestyle accommodations that its own medical staff have deemed to be medically appropriate without considering the implications of that decision,” Lamberth wrote. “Even if the BOP did support such a decision with the consideration, study, and reasoning that the APA requires of it, its freedom of action may nevertheless be constrained by the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, but that is a matter better left for another day — whether that be a later stage of litigation, or another case entirely.”
As The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland previously reported, universal injunctions issued under the APA constitute “the majority of nationwide injunctions entered against the Trump Administration since the president returned to Washington.”
Tuesday’s order is the latest in a string of overreaching injunctions pursued by left-wing activists seeking to stymie President Trump’s agenda via a judicial coup. On Monday, the administration was all but forced to appeal a district court order attempting to block the president from firing federal employees.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood