Supreme Court allows Trump ban transgender peoples from military
The Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday afternoon for the Trump Administration to enforce a Department of Defense Policy that prohibits transgender people serving in the U.S. Military. The three Democratic appointees of the court indicated that they would have refused the Trump administration’s requests. The justices paused a Washington state federal judge’s order that barred the government’s implementation of the policy anywhere in America. In 2021, shortly after assuming office, then-President Joe Biden issued an executive order allowing transgender troops to serve in the military openly. On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump revoked Biden’s order, and issued a second order requiring Secretary Pete Hegseth put into effect a “ban on individuals with gender dysphoria”, the medical term for psychological distress caused by conflict between a person’s assigned sex at birth and their gender identity.
On February 26, the Department of Defense announced a ban that disqualifies anyone with gender dysphoria, or who has had medical interventions to treat it, from serving in the military. The Department of Defense explained that “the medical and surgical restrictions on individuals with a history of gender dysphoria or who exhibit symptoms of it are incompatible with high mental and physical standards required for military service.” Commander Emily Shilling is the lead plaintiff and has been a naval pilot for almost two decades. She estimates that the Navy spent $20 million training her. District Judge Benjamin Settle agreed that the ban violated the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee, among other things. He called it a “defacto blanket ban on service for transgenders.”
After U.S. Court of Appeals of the 9th Circuit denied the government’s request that Settle’s Order be frozen while the government appealed, the Trump Administration went to the Supreme Court of the United States on April 24, 2019. The Trump administration said that without the Supreme Court’s involvement, the district court order would remain in place until the litigation in the 9th Circuit, and if necessary, in the Supreme Court, continues. The Trump administration said that this was “a period of time far too long” for the military to have to continue a policy it had determined to be incompatible with military readiness and national interests. The court, as is common for emergency appeals in the United States, did not explain its decision. The court’s three Democratic nominees – Justices Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan and Ketanji brown Jackson – indicated they would have refused the government’s application. They did not provide any explanations.
Posted in Emergency appeals and applications, Featured
Cases: United States v. Shilling
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Amy Howe
Supreme Court allows Trump ban transgender peoples from military
SCOTUSblog
(May. 6, 2025, 2:32 PM),
