The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a lower court injunction, allowing President Donald Trump's ban on transgender individuals serving in the military to proceed while legal battles continue in the lower courts. The high court's decision represents a temporary win for the Trump administration but does not resolve the underlying constitutional questions.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices granted a stay of a district court order blocking enforcement of Trump's January 27 executive order, which prohibits transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. armed forces. The justices did not provide a written opinion, though Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The legal dispute centers on Shilling v. United States, a case brought by seven transgender service members who argue the ban constitutes unconstitutional discrimination. The plaintiffs allege the order "baselessly declares all transgender people unfit to serve" and "cruelly describes every one of them as incapable of 'an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life,' based solely because they are transgender."
Trump's executive order mandates the Department of Defense to rescind previous guidance accommodating transgender service members and revise medical standards to disqualify "trans-identifying" individuals from enlistment or continued service. The administration maintains that the policy promotes "military readiness, unit cohesion, good order and discipline, and avoiding disproportionate costs."
The ban was temporarily blocked in March by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle, who issued a preliminary injunction to preserve the Pentagon's pre-ban policy. Settle wrote that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on claims involving equal protection and procedural due process, calling the administration's arguments "not persuasive" and the case "not an especially close question."
Following Settle's ruling, a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit-Judges Atsushi Wallace Tashima, John B. Owens, and Roopali H. Desai-denied the government's request to lift the injunction. That decision was reversed on Tuesday by the Supreme Court, enabling the policy to take immediate effect.
The Trump administration has defended the ban aggressively. "The Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump's executive actions, including the Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness Executive Order, and will continue to do so," a DOJ official said, as reported by Fox News Digital.
