Supreme Court allows Trump transgender troop ban

Michael Macagnone, CQ-Roll Call on May 6, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court in a brief order Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to take actions to implement a ban on transgender members of the U.S. military, which could include discharges.

The unsigned order granted an application from the Trump administration to lift a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Washington, who ruled in favor of a group of transgender service members who sued to stop their discharges.

The judge found in March that the executive order that spurred the ban likely violated the Constitution’s guarantee of due process, and that ruling was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

In the Supreme Court order Tuesday, Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor noted that they would not have granted the Trump administration’s application but did not explain their reasoning. The order did not indicate how any other justices voted.

Trump signed the order implementing the ban in his first month in office, asserting that transgender status “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” and further asserted that transitioning was “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”

The order was one of several that sought to target transgender individuals nationwide, including mandating the federal government recognize only two immutable genders and to remove federal labor protections from transgender individuals.

Multiple lawsuits challenged the ban, which was similar to one that Trump implemented in his first administration. Federal courts in the District of Columbia and Washington state have ruled against the ban, finding it violated federal law or the Constitution.

Last month, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene, accusing the lower court of “usurping the Executive Branch’s authority to determine who may serve in the Nation’s armed forces.”

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in in an emergency posture on more than half a dozen cases since the start of his second term, with similar rhetoric accusing lower courts of overstepping their authority.

The case is United States of America et al. v. Emily Shilling et al.

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