Taxpayers should not fund sex-change procedures in federal prisons
The stay denial leaves the Bureau’s restriction blocked, keeping taxpayers in a fight over federal funding for hormone therapy and transition-related accommodations.
On October 21, 2026, the Supreme Court denied the stay application in Trump v. Kingdom, No. 26A416: “The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied. Justice Thomas and Justice Alito would grant the application for stay.”
The order gave no explanation. Tyler O’Neil’s October 21 post reported the order. Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth blocked the Bureau of Prisons’ February 2026 policy in an August 26 order. A divided D.C. Circuit panel, 2-1, refused to pause the policy in September1.
The Bureau of Prisons adopted its policy in February 2026; it would stop hormone therapy and “social accommodations” including makeup, wigs and padding, SCOTUSblog reports1. NBC News also identifies sex-change surgery among the services the Bureau announced it would no longer provide2.
According to SCOTUSblog, the Bureau supported its change with an administrative record and a 43-page memorandum citing, among other reasons, “the latest scientific information.”1 Taxpaying families deserve an agency willing to reconsider its commitments rather than treat yesterday’s spending policy as a permanent obligation.
The administration’s court appendix records that the appeals court denied a stay on September 18, leaving Lamberth’s block in place.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that Lamberth had substituted his policy judgment for the Bureau’s and denied prison administrators their due deference, according to SCOTUSblog. The Supreme Court supplied no explanation for refusing relief1. Policymakers still owe taxpayers an answer on the spending itself.
The inmates’ strongest answer concerns harm: withdrawing treatment would put them at “serious risk of worsening gender dysphoria” and other mental-health symptoms, they argued, according to SCOTUSblog1.
But the proposal would retain mental-health services and potentially medications such as antidepressants, NBC News reports2. Families can demand responsible treatment of prisoners and limits on what the federal government finances. Officials should defend both obligations together.
President Donald Trump’s executive order bars federal spending on procedures, treatments or drugs intended to conform an inmate’s appearance to the opposite sex3.
That is a proper boundary for public money. Taxpaying households should not have to finance transgender ideology through the federal prison system. The administration should continue defending the Bureau’s restriction and substantiate its decisions through the administrative record. Policymakers should preserve mental-health services while pursuing an end to taxpayer-funded sex-change procedures in federal prisons.
Sources
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