Supreme Court Allows Transgender Ban in Military to Take Effect While Case Goes Through Courts

In an unsigned order with no explanation, the Supreme Court said Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military can take effect while a legal challenge against it moves through the courts.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

Multiple lower courts halted the transgender ban. The specific ruling that led to the Supreme Court’s emergency order came from District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in March. Settle wrote, “The government’s arguments are not persuasive, and it is not an especially close question on this record. The government’s unrelenting reliance on deference to military judgment is unjustified in the absence of any evidence supporting ‘the military’s’ new judgment reflected in the Military Ban.”

Federal District Court Judge Ana Reyes in a separate jurisdiction also blocked the ban. She called it “soaked with animus and dripping with pretext.”

The Supreme Court’s order will abruptly end the careers of a few thousand members of the military, some of them extensively and expensively trained. Their separation from service will also disrupt their military units.

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