Document Type

Amicus Brief

Publication Date

7-7-2025

Case Name

Jane Doe v. Pamela Bondi

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The Executive Order at issue in these appeals targets a small and uniquely vulnerable minority of transgender women—those currently housed in federal women’s prisons—by commanding the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to transfer them immediately to men’s facilities. Amici file in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees (hereinafter “Plaintiffs”), to address two procedural arguments made by Defendants-Appellants (“the government”). First, Congress has not eliminated federal court jurisdiction to decide Plaintiffs’ challenge to the transfer provisions of the Executive Order. Second, the government overreads the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA); Plaintiffs’ lawsuit is not improper or premature under that statute’s exhaustion requirement because no administrative remedy was available to them. The Court should affirm the district court’s rulings on both jurisdiction and exhaustion. This brief does not address other issues; amici support affirmance but focus our argument on the procedural issues where our expertise can be the most helpful.

Comments

FULL CASE NAME:

JANE DOE, et al., JANE JONES, et al., MARIA MOE,

Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.

PAMELA BONDI, in her official capacity as Attorney General of the United States, et al.;

DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity as President of the United States, et al.,

Defendants-Appellants

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