The US Supreme Court has lifted a lower court’s injunction blocking President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender military service members, allowing the restriction to take effect while legal challenges continue.
Tuesday’s unsigned order from the court’s conservative majority indicated that the three liberal justices โ Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson โ sought to deny the emergency request to lift the injunction.
Since beginning his second term on January 20, Trump has implemented policies limiting transgender rights, including military service restrictions. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order recognizing only “two sexes, male and female” and rescinded former President Biden’s order permitting transgender troops to serve.
On January 27, Trump introduced a directive titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which characterized transgender identity as adopting a “‘false’ gender identity” incompatible with military service standards. The order stated: “Adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.”
This executive order prompted multiple legal challenges, including one filed by seven active-duty service members, a civil rights organization, and a prospective enlist. The plaintiffs argue the ban discriminates unconstitutionally against transgender individuals.
Advocates note these seven service members have collectively earned over 70 medals. Lead plaintiff Commander Emily Shilling has served nearly two decades in the Navy as a combat pilot with 60 completed missions, representing approximately $20 million in training investment.
The Trump administration maintains that transgender troops pose a liability to military effectiveness.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt celebrated the ruling on social media: “Another MASSIVE victory in the Supreme Court! President Trump and [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth] are restoring a military that is focused on readiness and lethality.” Hegseth posted: “No More Trans @ DoD.”
This marks Trump’s second attempt to exclude transgender people from military service. In July 2017, during his first term, Trump announced a similar policy on Twitter (now X). The Supreme Court allowed that ban to take effect in 2019 before Biden nullified it in 2021.
In its emergency appeal, the Trump administration cited its previous Supreme Court success. The temporary injunction had been issued by US District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, a former army captain appointed under President George W. Bush. Settle blocked the ban in March, noting the government’s “absence of any evidence” connecting the restriction to legitimate military concerns.
District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, DC also issued an injunction in a separate case involving 14 transgender service members. She wrote: “The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed โ some risking their lives โ to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the military ban seeks to deny them.”
Of the approximately 2.1 million US military personnel, less than 1 percent are estimated to be transgender. A senior official last year estimated about 4,200 transgender active-duty service members, though advocates suggest this may be undercounted due to discrimination risks.
Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, supporting the legal challenge, denounced Tuesday’s ruling: “By allowing this discriminatory ban to take effect while our challenge continues, the court has temporarily sanctioned a policy that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice.”
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