Appeals court won’t reconsider inmate’s gender surgery case

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has become the first circuit in the nation to order a state to pay for an inmate's gender confirmation surgery, ruling Monday that a three-judge panel decision from August will stand.

The appellate court first ruled in August that the state must give the inmate gender confirmation surgery, agreeing with a federal judge in Idaho that denying the surgery amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. But several judges have expressed concern with the underlying ruling.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little says the state will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.