A transgender inmate’s gender-affirming surgery will move forward after the Supreme Court refused a request to stay the procedure.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea from Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, to block Adnee Elmo’s upcoming surgery while the nation’s highest bench decides whether to take the case. In 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho ruled that denying gender-affirming care to 32-year-old Adree Elmo would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling in 2019, citing Elmo’s “ongoing and extreme suffering and medical needs.” Edmo sued three years ago after a psychiatrist at the Idaho State Correctional Center, a men’s prison located outside of Boise, refused to grant her request for surgery. She twice attempted to castrate herself.
Little, who has signed two anti-trans bills during the COVID-19 pandemic, said in a statement at the time of the Ninth Court’s ruling that the decisions were “extremely disappointing.” He called on the Supreme Court to overturn them.
“The hardworking taxpayers of Idaho should not be forced to pay for a convicted sex offender’s gender reassignment surgery when it is contrary to the medical opinions of the treating physician and multiple mental health professionals,” he wrote at the time. “I intend to appeal this decision to the U.S Supreme Court. We cannot divert critical public dollars away from the higher priorities of keeping the public safe and rehabilitating offenders.”
Although the Supreme Court did not indicate whether it intends to hear an appeal in Edmo’s case, it denied the motion to block her surgery in a 7-2 decision. The bench also did not state its reasons for dismissing the request for a stay, but judges Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both conservatives, were the only dissenters on the bench.
The Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene means that Edmo’s surgery will proceed as planned in July. It will be the first court-ordered trans-affirming procedure in the nation’s history.
Attorneys for Edmo celebrated their client’s victory after years of fighting for access to gender-affirming care. National Center for Lesbian Rights Senior Staff Attorney Amy Whelan said in a statement that Edmo will finally be able “get medically necessary surgery that she has needed for years.”
“The lower courts found, based on extensive evidence and proof, that the Idaho Department of Corrections and Corizon Health are violating Ms. Edmo’s constitutional rights by withholding this critical medical care,” she said. “Today’s decision means that the state can no longer delay in providing care that is essential to Ms. Edmo’s health, safety, and well-being.”
Edmo is slated for release in July 2021. She was convicted of sexually assaulting a sleeping 15-year-old boy in 2011 and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
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