On Thursday, May 21, 2020, the Supreme Court rejected the State of Idaho’s attempt to delay Adree Edmo’s medically necessary gender confirmation surgery, which is currently scheduled for July 2020.
This ruling follows a series of legal victories for Ms. Edmo in the lower courts. On December 13, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill found that the State’s refusal to provide Ms. Edmo gender confirmation surgery to treat her severe gender dysphoria was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of her Eighth Amendment rights and ordered the prison to provide her. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit unanimously upheld the district court’s ruling and ordered the surgery to go forward. The Ninth Circuit later denied the State’s petition for rehearing en banc.
On May 6, 2020, the State filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court and asked the Court to delay Ms. Edmo’s surgery while the Supreme Court considered whether to accept the case for review. The Supreme Court’s denial of the stay means that Ms. Edmo will finally get the life-saving medical treatment she desperately needs.
Ms. Edmo, who has been in the custody of the Idaho Department of Correction since 2012, filed her lawsuit pro se in 2017 before retaining HSRD LLP and co-counsel Rifkin Law Offices, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Ferguson Durham, LLC.
ORDER: https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/052120zr_i4dk.pdf
NCLR PRESS RELEASE; http://www.nclrights.org/press-room/press-release/breaking-u-s-supreme-court-denies-idahos-request-to-delay-transgender-inmates-medically-necessary-surgery/
MEDIA;
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/us/supreme-court-surgery-transgender-inmate.html
https://news.yahoo.com/u-supreme-court-rebuffs-bid-231828335.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwF7-MnA87shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwF7-MnA87s
#SCOTUS #NCLR