Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Jun 17

Judge Orders Federal Prisons to Keep Hormone Therapy for Trans Inmates, Blocking Trump Policy

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Jun 17

Judge Orders Federal Prisons to Keep Hormone Therapy for Trans Inmates, Blocking Trump Policy

Q: Can a federal agency legally reverse a medical policy without new scientific evidence supporting the change?

Not usually. A federal agency can change a medical policy without producing brand-new scientific studies, but it generally must give a reasoned, evidence-based explanation for the reversal and show it is not acting arbitrarily. That is the core rule under the Administrative Procedure Act. Courts can block agency actions that are “arbitrary and capricious,” meaning the agency failed to explain its decision, ignored important facts, or departed from prior policy without adequately addressing the evidence and reliance interests behind the old rule. New scientific evidence can strengthen a reversal, but it is not always legally required if the agency can justify the change with a rational analysis of the existing record, statutory duties, or other relevant facts. In the prison hormone-therapy case, Judge Royce C. Lamberth found the Bureau of Prisons was unlikely to meet that standard. The agency said the benefits of hormone therapy were unclear and proposed psychotherapy and antidepressants instead, but the judge indicated that those stated doubts did not appear to amount to the kind of reasoned explanation the law requires when reversing an established medical policy. The legal issue, then, is less whether there is new science and more whether the agency can defend the change with a coherent, well-supported rationale. If it cannot, a court may halt the policy, as happened here through a preliminary injunction while the case continues.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 17

A federal judge in Washington issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Bureau of Prisons to keep providing hormone medications to transgender inmates.
Judge Royce C. Lamberth said the administration was unlikely to meet the legal standard for reversing policy because it had not offered a sufficiently reasoned explanation for ending the treatment.
The Bureau of Prisons had argued earlier this year that even adults with gender dysphoria faced unclear benefits from hormone therapy and should receive psychotherapy and antidepressants instead.
The ruling marks a setback for the Trump administration in a broader push to limit recognition of transgender identity, though most recent court fights have centered on minors rather than adult medical care.