Update: We secured preliminary injunction orders preventing our clients in three separate lawsuits—Moe v. Trump, Doe v. Bondi, and Jones v. Bondi  from being transferred to men’s facilities.

The Trump administration has appealed those preliminary injunctions to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the three cases have been consolidated for briefing and ruling on this appeal. Learn more about the appeal.

Case Overview

GLAD Law, NCLR, Brown Goldstein & Levy LLP, Lowenstein Sandler LLP, and Rosen Bien Galvin & Grunfeld LLP represent three transgender women in a case challenging a federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy directed by President Trump which would override Prison Rape Elimination Act protections for vulnerable populations, including transgender women. As a result of the policy, which stems from a January 20, 2025 Executive Order issued by President Trump, the plaintiffs were at imminent risk of being moved to a men’s facility. 

The complaint, filed January 30, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that the policies required by the new executive order violate the Administrative Procedure Act because they are arbitrary and capricious and also directly conflict with a Prison Rape Elimination Act regulation requiring prison officials to make housing determinations based on an individualized assessment of safety and security. The complaint also alleges that the policies required by the new Executive Order are unconstitutional because they discriminate based on a person’s transgender status, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause, and violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. 

This case was previously called Doe v. McHenry. 

Case Updates

On March 19, the court granted a preliminary injunction for 2 additional plaintiffs who were added to the case. These women had been moved to male facilities putting them at tremendous risk. The judge ordered BOP to move them back to their women’s facilities.

On February 24, the court extended the preliminary injunction to include the 9 additional plaintiffs.

On February 21, we filed an amended complaint adding 9 additional plaintiffs, incarcerated transgender women who had been informed they would be immediately transferred to a men’s facility.

On February 19, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in our case representing three incarcerated transgender women at risk of being transferred to a men’s facility. This blocks the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing against our clients President Trump’s first Executive Order attempting to deny the existence of transgender people, while our case against it continues. We are moving to protect as many of the transgender women in the women’s BOP units as we can and are adding anyone we hear from in the same circumstances.

Doe v. Bondi is one of the three lawsuits GLAD Law and NCLR have filed challenging sections of the Executive Order that directs the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to house transgender women in men’s prisons. Learn more about the other cases Moe v. Trump and Jones v. Bondi.