Yet another order issued by Donald Trump has been rejected by a federal judge.
This time, it was for Trump hoping to end a policy that has been in place for years that would put transition surgeries for prisoners on the tab of the American people.
Yes, when Donald Trump was in office for the first time, transition surgeries for prisoners were paid for by taxpayers.
These policies should have been taken care of during the first two years of Trump’s first term, but as we all know, GOP members of Congress really let us down.
The issue was brought up during the 2024 campaign, at which point the New York Times reported, “But the Trump administration’s record on providing services for transgender people in the sprawling federal prison system, which houses thousands of undocumented immigrants awaiting trial or deportation, is more nuanced than the 30-second spot suggests.”
When this was reported, officials stated that they were merely following laws that were already in place.
During the election, this became a topic of debate between Harris and Trump, but Harris took the position she supported it because she was merely following laws, laws that were in place when Trump was in office.
At the time, she stated, “I will follow the law. And it’s a law that Donald Trump actually followed. You’re probably familiar with now. It’s a public report that under Donald Trump’s administration, these surgeries were available on a medical necessity basis, to people in the federal prison system.”
Donald Trump attacked her on this position, with a political ad that stated, “Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners.”
Then it cut to a clip of Harris stating, “Every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access. Even the liberal media was shocked Kamala supports taxpayer funded sex changes for prisoners and illegal aliens.”
While Trump did not address it during his first term, he is addressing this issue now, or at least he was trying to until a judge blocked the order.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, ruled, "Neither the BOP nor the Executive Order provides any serious explanation as to why the treatment modalities covered by the Executive Order or implementing memoranda should be handled differently than any other mental health intervention.”
His ruling continued, "The import of the opinion is essentially this: Under the APA, 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.”
I really don’t understand why the American people have to pay for what amounts to be an elective surgery for prisoners. It is utterly ridiculous to me that we have to foot this tab.
