9th Circuit overturns state order to house transgender women in women's prisons
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco on Thursday overturned a preliminary injunction that would have sent more than 100 transgender women convicted of felonies from Oregon men’s prisons to women’s facilities. (Image from Shutterstock)
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco on Thursday overturned a preliminary injunction that would have sent more than 100 transgender women convicted of felonies from Oregon men’s prisons to women’s facilities.
Courthouse News Service has the story.
The preliminary injunction, issued in April, included an unnamed plaintiff known in court documents as “J.F.,” who 9th Circuit Judge Eric Tung wrote, “sexually assaulted a woman by lodging a footlong plastic object into that woman’s vagina.”
“The district court improperly disregarded the overwhelming contrary evidence presented by defendants in favor of baseless speculation,” wrote Tung, an appointee of President Donald Trump, in the Sept. 17 opinion.
In the opinion, the word “transgender” appeared in quotation marks, and Tung referred to transgender women as “male inmates who claim to be female.”
Jenny Hansson, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice, said in an email: “While we agree with the outcome of the case, we strongly disagree with the court’s harmful language. It does not reflect our brief or our values.”
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
