WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday allowed the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military service members to temporarily remain in place, while a lower court reviews the policy that advocates and some service members contend illegally targets a group of people.
A text entry on the high court’s docket stayed a Washington state district court order preventing President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from enforcing an executive order effectively banning all transgender troops.
The unsigned order, which was opposed by the court’s liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, permits the administration’s ban while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit deliberates. The Department of Defense also could ask the Supreme Court to take up the question.
The case centers on a lawsuit filed by seven transgender service members who openly serve in the military, and one transgender individual who was poised to enlist. The plaintiffs allege the administration violated their equal protection and free speech rights as well as denied them due process when Trump signed his executive order a week after entering office.
Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, organizations representing the plaintiffs, said in a joint statement Tuesday the Supreme Court’s ruling is “a devastating blow to transgender servicemembers who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense.”
“By allowing this discriminatory ban to take effect while our challenge continues, the Court has temporarily sanctioned a policy that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice. Transgender individuals meet the same standards and demonstrate the same values as all who serve. We remain steadfast in our belief that this ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and will ultimately be struck down,” the statement continued.
Immediate appeal
A lower court in Washington state granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction in late March that allowed them to continue service.
The Trump administration immediately appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which on April 18 denied an emergency request to block the lower court’s order. Days later, the administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 27, asserting the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
Further, the order said that being transgender is “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
Hegseth issued the new policy a month later, reversing former President Joe Biden’s order allowing service members to transition and serve openly under their preferred gender identity.
Trump’s order immediately drew court challenges, including a separate case now in the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia.
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