WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, the United States Supreme Court delivered a crucial development for sex-based protections in Roybal v. Griffith, vacating a lower court ruling involving a Colorado jail’s policies and directing the Tenth Circuit to reconsider the case in light of two recent Supreme Court decisions: West Virginia v. B.P.J. and United States v. Skrmetti.
The case centers on a biological male inmate who challenged the jail’s policies governing housing assignments, access to female commissary items, and same-sex strip searches. The Tenth Circuit previously allowed several constitutional claims to proceed under heightened judicial scrutiny.
“The 10th circuit is poised to make a decision that will impact every single part of incarcerated women’s lives,” said Amie Ichikawa, Independent Women ambassador and founder of Woman II Woman. “The court has to decide whether a man’s feelings are more important than women’s safety. Their decision could greatly impact the trajectory of American culture. Is our judicial system going to be based on reality or ideology?”
“Biological sex matters, especially in prisons, where the safety, privacy, and dignity of women are at stake,” said Beth Parlato, senior legal counsel for Independent Women’s Law Center. “Correctional officials have a responsibility to protect the women in their custody, and the Constitution does not require them to disregard biological reality to accommodate gender identity. The Supreme Court’s decision to vacate the Tenth Circuit’s ruling is an important step toward reaffirming the authority of correctional institutions to maintain commonsense, sex-based policies that protect women.”
At the heart of this case is whether correctional facilities have the constitutional authority to maintain sex-based policies without being required to create exceptions based on gender identity. As the U.S. Solicitor General argued, the Supreme Court’s recent decisions reinforce the principle that biological sex remains a legitimate basis for government classifications, particularly where safety and privacy are at stake.
Today’s action comes just months after the Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, which upheld states’ authority to preserve women’s sports based on sex alone.
Sex-based distinctions matter wherever women’s privacy, safety, and equal rights are on the line—from women’s sports to women’s prisons. Incarcerated women cannot choose their living arrangements, avoid communal showers, or remove themselves from potentially dangerous situations like those in the outside world.
Today’s order is not a final ruling on prison policies, but is significant, given the Supreme Court’s recent sex-based precedents.
Independent Women’s Law Center breaks down today’s order in its latest SCOTUS Snapshot, Roybal v. Griffith, and explains why the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Tenth Circuit and what the decision could mean for sex-based policies in correctional facilities nationwide.
LEARN MORE: Independent Women’s Law Center SCOTUS Snapshot
INDEPENDENT WOMEN’S FIGHT TO PROTECT INCARCERATED WOMEN
Independent Women has spent a decade building a national movement to stand with women through legal advocacy, model legislation, policy research, storytelling, grassroots organizing, and litigation support.
Within its January 2025 report, “Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Stopping the Dangerous Policies Putting Men in Women’s Prisons,” Independent Women provides guidelines and real-world solutions to prioritize the safety and dignity of incarcerated women, including clarifying federal disability regulations, strengthening reporting protections for female inmates, and revisiting policies that permit male prisoners to be housed in women’s facilities.
Learn more about Independent Women’s work in prisons here:
- Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Stopping the Dangerous Policies Putting Men in Women’s Prisons
- Independent Women’s Features: Cruel and Unusual Punishment Series
- Exposing ‘Trans Supremacy’ Inside Women’s Prisons
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