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A federal judge ordered two transgender women to be transferred back to women’s prisons on Wednesday, following their relocation to male facilities under President Trump’s executive order limiting transgender protections.
The preliminary injunction came from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, addressing the cases of two women, known as Rachel and Ellen Doe, who were added as plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit regarding transgender women in federal prisons.
In his ruling, Lamberth mandated the Bureau of Prisons to immediately return the women to female facilities and continue their hormone therapy for gender dysphoria. The women had reported living in constant fear, facing sexual propositions from male inmates and undergoing strip searches by male officers without female staff present.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth is not the president! @PamBondi please investigate and bring impeachment articles against this rough Judge Royce Lamberth.
Judge Orders Trump to Return 2 Trans Inmates to Women's Prisons https://t.co/LRSfvH0ovV
— Geek2.0 (@RHollhumer) March 19, 2025
“The fact that they have already been transferred and, allegedly, have been abused at their new facilities can only strengthen their claims of irreparable harm,” Lamberth wrote.
The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on the ruling.
This decision adds to several previous rulings challenging the agency’s implementation of the executive order, which mandates housing transgender women in men’s prisons and stopping gender-affirming care.
BREAKING: A federal judge has blocked President Trump's executive order forcibly to detransition trans women inmates and transfer them to men's prisons, citing the 8th amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) February 5, 2025
Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, had previously blocked the transfer of twelve other transgender women to men’s facilities. Last month, he ordered their housing and medical care to remain unchanged from before Inauguration Day. A separate ruling in Boston also prevented another transgender woman’s transfer.
According to a Trump administration official’s court filing, as of February 20, federal women’s facilities housed 22 transgender women, representing approximately 1% of the agency’s transgender inmate population of 2,200.
The latest ruling protects at least 15 individuals from transfers. Additionally, Lamberth is still considering a recent lawsuit from three inmates challenging the executive order’s restrictions on gender-affirming hormone therapy and related care.
