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Trump administration's request seeks to restore ban on transgender military personnel, as partial court rulings and opposition continue
On Thursday, the government of President Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the ban on transgender people in the military to continue to be enforced. The request comes as legal challenges to the measure continue.
Without a Supreme Court order, the ban could take months to take effect. Attorney General D. John Sauer said that would be too long for the military to be forced to maintain a policy that is considered detrimental to military readiness and the nation’s interests.
The request comes after a brief ruling by a federal appeals court that left in place an order blocking the nationwide ban.
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Sauer wrote that, at a minimum, the court should allow the ban to apply in all cases except for the seven service members and the aspiring service member who filed lawsuits challenging the measure.
The court gave one week for lawyers representing these soldiers to submit their responses.
Policy changes and judicial resistance
After beginning his second term in January, President Trump began taking aggressive steps to roll back rights granted to transgender people.
Among his actions, he issued an executive order stating that the sexual identity of transgender service members is incompatible with their commitment to maintaining an honorable, honest and disciplined lifestyle, even when not on active duty. The order claimed that the presence of transgender individuals would harm the readiness of the Armed Forces.
In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new policy that would presumably disqualify transgender people from serving in the military.
However, in March, Judge Benjamin Settle of the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, ruled in favor of several long-serving transgender service members. They said the ban was discriminatory and insulting, and that its removal would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations.
Judge Settle noted that the Trump administration has offered no explanation as to why transgender service members, who have served openly for the past four years without known incident, should be banned.
Settle was appointed by President George W. Bush and is a former captain in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps.
History of transgender policy in the Armed Forces
During Barack Obama's administration, the Defense Department allowed transgender people to serve openly. In Trump's first term, he tried to overturn that policy, allowing exceptions only for those who had already transitioned under more flexible rules.
At the time, the Supreme Court allowed Trump's ban to go into effect. Democratic President Joe Biden later reversed the decision once he took office.
The rules the Defense Department now intends to enforce do not provide for exceptions. Sauer argued that the blocked policy and the previous version adopted under the Trump administration are “materially indistinguishable.”
Thousands of transgender people currently serve in the military. However, they represent less than 1% of the total active-duty military personnel.
Recent court decisions and expectations for the Supreme Court
In addition to the main case, other court decisions are also influencing the scenario. A federal judge in Washington, the nation's capital, blocked the ban.
However, that ruling was temporarily suspended by a federal appeals court. At the latest hearing, the three-judge panel, including two Trump appointees, appeared to favor the government's position.
In a separate case, a New Jersey judge barred the Air Force from discharging two transgender men. The judge argued that the removal would cause irreparable harm to the careers and reputations of the affected service members, harm that could not be remedied by financial compensation.
The outcome now depends on the Supreme Court's decision and the responses that will be presented by the lawyers of the military personnel who are contesting the ban.
With information from Fast Company.
