Trans inmate's lawyers claim "egregious retaliation" in violation of court order

Trans woman involved in a lawsuit challenging anti-trans policies says federal prison official told her on Feb. 22: “I don’t give a fuck what that judge says, I do what I want.”

An alarming emergency motion filed on Wednesday night alleged “flagrant violations” by the Trump administration of a federal court order that it not retaliate against witnesses who are providing information to the court in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s anti-trans prison policies.

The Wednesday night filing details claims by a transgender woman in a prison in North Carolina of “a demeaning visual cavity search,” guards throwing her legal papers in “a cell covered in feces,” and extended retaliatory detention in recent days.

The filing asks U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to order the Trump administration to explain why it should not be held in civil contempt for the actions.

“I think that it is important for the Court to know what is happening here,“ Grace Pinson, who has submitted several declarations in the case, stated in a declaration filed on Wednesday along with the lawyer’s motion.

The filing in federal court in D.C. came less than a week after Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, issued an order on February 19 barring any further retaliation against inmates for their participation in the case.

Three days later, however, Pinson alleged that a lieutenant at the facility where she is housed referred to as Lt. Teague told her, “I don’t give a fuck what that judge says, I do what I want.”

The filing and declarations allege that the officials’ actions echo that claim.

The request is now before Lamberth, who has blocked many of the anti-trans prison policies advanced by the Trump administration from going into effect with a classwide preliminary injunction that has been in effect since mid-2025.

[Update, 11:45 a.m.: Judge Royce Lamberth has set a hearing on this motion — alleging violations of his Feb. 19 court order — for 2:30 p.m. Thursday.]

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In the declaration from Pinson, who is currently in Federal Bureau of Prisons custody at FCI Butner Medium I in North Carolina, she alleged that officials presented her with the new policy for treatment of transgender people in federal prisons:

She then went on to detail the invasive visual cavity search that she says she was subjected to on February 22 by male guards.

Then, she recounted the lawless statement that she claims Teague made to her:

“If you want to make it home alive, you need to stop sending stuff to that fucking judge, or you’re not going to make it,” she says Teague told her.

Her former roommate, Elmer Armando Moreno, also submitted a declaration, highlighting the retaliation that he has seen Pinson face, as well as stating, “Because of what I have witnessed BOP staff do to Grace, I fear for my own safety.“

In the motion for an order to show case, the plaintiffs’ lawyers argued, “But Lt. Teague and his colleagues cannot simply do what they want. Like anyone else, they are bound by the law. Civil contempt vindicates this principle.“

The lawyers are asking for Lamberth to:

issue an Order to Show Cause, requiring that Defendants expeditiously answer the charges in Ms. Pinson’s declaration and take immediate action to protect her, Mr. Moreno, and everyone else who has or will come forward as part of this litigation. This response is necessary not only to protect class members and witnesses, but also to affirm the Court’s own authority, and to make clear to Defendants and their agents and employees that adherence to Court orders is mandatory, not optional.

The lawyers urged Lamberth that “[n]othing more is needed to initiate emergency proceedings” given the information provided to the court on Wednesday night.

Law Dork will have more on this developing story as circumstances warrant.