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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Transgender prisoners’ housing and care

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States v. Alishea Sophia Kingdom

Denied
No. 26A416Stay applicationFiled by the federal governmentPresented to The Chief JusticeFrom United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on October 21, 2026: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Thomas and Justice Alito would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 23 days after filing

What's being asked

The federal government asks the Supreme Court to temporarily pause a lower-court order in a case brought by Alishea Sophia Kingdom and others. The case concerns the Bureau of Prisons' 2026 policy. The government says the policy is lawful and the order conflicts with a law governing prison lawsuits.

What the Court did

The Court refused the federal government's request for a temporary pause (a stay). Justice Thomas and Justice Alito would have granted it; the order gives no full vote tally. The denial does not decide the underlying dispute.

  • Dissented
  • Vote not published
Dissenting · 2recorded against the Court's order
  1. Thomaswould grant
  2. Alitowould grant
Vote not published · 7the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Sotomayor
  3. Kagan
  4. Gorsuch
  5. Kavanaugh
  6. Barrett
  7. Jackson
The order records the positions of 2 of 9 justices. The Court usually does not say how each justice voted on an emergency application, so the rest are shown as not published.
Half of 83 rulings on applications where the Court asked for a response came 12 to 26 days after filing, and the median was 17 days; this one was ruled on 23 days after filing.

What it means

This emergency ruling only addresses whether to pause the order; it does not decide who wins the underlying case. The case continues in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and no related Supreme Court merits case is listed.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 26A416. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked November 11, 2026