WASHINGTON (CN) — Transgender Americans can be banned from military service, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, allowing the Trump administration to expel thousands of active-duty troops.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January declaring transgender Americans unfit for duty, stating that honoring the “falsehood” of their chosen gender identity was “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
In February, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum disqualifying troops with gender dysphoria and ordering their immediate separation from the service. The policy included an exemption for individuals with gender dysphoria who have never attempted to transition and wanted to serve under their birth sex.
Seven transgender service members and one prospective recruit sued the administration, arguing that the policy was unlawful.
“An unprecedented degree of animus towards transgender people animates and permeates the Ban: it is based on the shocking proposition that transgender people do not exist,” the troops wrote.
Two lower courts agreed, barring Hegseth from enforcing his memorandum until the issue was fully reviewed.
Trump asked the justices to step in, claiming that judges were nullifying the Defense Department’s standards necessary to deliver a deployable force.
“If the separation of powers means anything, the government obviously suffers irreparable harm when an unelected judge usurps the role of the political branches in operating the Nation’s armed forces,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer wrote.
Of the over 2 million people in the U.S. military, only 4,240 are transgender.
During his first term, Trump implemented a similar ban, but the Biden administration reversed it, allowing transgender troops to openly serve in the military for four years. The Supreme Court allowed his first ban to take effect, so Trump reasoned that the justices should do the same here.
Transgender troops said that the two bans were only similar in their discrimination. Under former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, active-duty members were allowed to continue their service. Because those troops had enlisted and served before the ban was announced, Mattis determined that the Defense Department had to honor its prior contract with the service members.
Biden’s former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin allowed transgender troops to serve if they met the same standards as any other service member.
Mattis’ policy was based on an independent judgment by military officials that predicted what issues open transgender service members could pose. Transgender service members fault Hegseth for not conducting a similar assessment, noting that the Defense Department now has actual data about transgender troops’ service under Austin.
U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle blocked enforcement of Hegseth’s policy. The George W. Bush appointee stated that the administration didn’t explain why transgender troops who have served openly for the past four years without problems should suddenly be banned.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes also blocked the enforcement of the policy in a separate case brought by 14 service members in D.C. A Joe Biden appointee, Reyes said that leaders have historically used concern for military readiness to deny marginalized people the privilege of serving.
A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit seemed similarly skeptical that the policy wasn’t an outright ban. U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, a Barack Obama appointee, said that the government couldn’t justify its policy beyond a distaste for trans people.
