WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to uphold the president’s ban on transgender troops in the military.
The administration is appealing a June ruling by a lower court that the ban probably violated the troops’ constitutional rights and cannot be enforced against those currently serving while the litigation continues.
The ability of the Pentagon to decide who can serve is a “matter of exceptional importance,” the Justice Department said in its filing.
Shannon Minter, a lawyer with the National Cetner for LGBTQ Rights, said the administration “wants the Supreme Court to rush in and bless the expulsion of proven, decorated soldiers before a single court has issued a final judgment.”
The executive order Trump signed soon
after taking office said 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.”
The D.C. Court of Appeals said that the policy is arbitrary and “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender.”
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth officially issued the ban on transgender people serving in the military in February 2025, effectively reviving an order Trump instituted in his first term. In the interim, former President Joe Biden had scrapped it days after taking office in 2021.
Hegseth has said people who experience symptoms of gender dysphoria "cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for Military Service," according to a memo he released last year. He has tied the ban on transgender service members to his sweeping push to eradicate what he calls "woke" policies throughout the military.
The Supreme Court already intervened in a different challenge to the policy last year when a majority said the ban can be enforced as it’s being litigated.
The ruling that’s currently being appealed is narrower than the previous one. It protects only the transgender troops already serving who challenged Trump’s policy and does not prevent the administration from enforcing its rule against others.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to uphold ban on trans troops
