Supreme Court gives Trump early win on transgender military ban
The Supreme Court decided Tuesday that the Trump administration may reinstate its ban on transgender people serving in the military, blocking a lower court order out of Washington state.
The emergency ruling, which was unsigned and did not include a reason for allowing the ban to move forward, takes immediate effect and will remain in place while legal challenges proceed.
A federal judge in Tacoma in March had temporarily blocked enforcement of the military policy, allowing trans people to keep serving until the lawsuit was decided. In April, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of the ban while the case proceeded after the Ninth Circuit refused to block the judge’s ruling.
The court’s three liberal members, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, noted they would have rejected the Trump administration’s request.
The Supreme Court ruling is a “devastating blow to transgender service members who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense,” Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal said in a joint statement Tuesday.
The two LGBTQ+ advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the ban in February. They represent the Seattle-based human rights organization Gender Justice League, as well as seven trans service members and one trans person who seeks to enlist.
“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,” the two LGBTQ+ advocacy groups said in a statement.
Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has enacted a sweeping campaign targeting trans and nonbinary people, issuing directives to ban trans women from participating in women’s sports, halt federal funding for pediatric gender-affirming care, block new passports for trans and nonbinary people, end gender-affirming care for veterans, among others.
In a disparaging executive order signed Jan. 27, Trump said “the Armed Forces have been afflicted with radical gender ideology” and that trans people are morally and medically unfit to serve.
The Department of Defense soon after issued new policies instructing military leaders to begin identifying trans service members and to start “separation actions” against them, forcing them out of the military. Trans service members have already reported being forced to leave women’s dorms and cut their hair.
Several LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations sued the Trump administration over the ban. In their February complaint, the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal argued the executive order’s directives violate the equal protection and due process guarantees of the Fifth Amendment, and the right to free speech of the First Amendment.
Lawyers noted that among their plaintiffs were senior officers with “an impressive military record” who have earned numerous medals and commendations. One is a 37-year-old transgender woman who has served in the U.S. Army for more than 17 years and is currently stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
“Many of these folks have been serving 19, 20, 21 years, sacrificing an immense amount for our country,” said Danni Askini, executive director of national programs at the Gender Justice League, said in February.
“I think the proof of their service contrasts so starkly from the preamble of the executive order, which is just spiteful, hateful, bigoted in the worst terms.”
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle issued a nationwide injunction in March. In his written ruling, he said the military’s implementation of Trump’s order is likely unconstitutional, and that the federal government had failed to demonstrate banning trans service members “substantially related to achieving unit cohesion, good order, or discipline.”
A 2014 report by the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School estimated about 21% of transgender people have served in the military, about twice the rate of the general population. Buchert said many transgender people — who disproportionately face poverty and employment discrimination — view military service as a pathway to stability.
Estimates vary on how many military personnel are transgender. The 2014 report estimated about 15,500 transgender adults are serving, including those on active duty and those in the Reserves and the National Guard. The study estimated roughly 0.6% of adults who have served in the armed forces identify as transgender.
Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order appeared to go further than a 2019 policy from his first term, which banned trans people from enlisting or seeking services to medically transition while serving, but allowed those already out as trans to continue to serve.
President Joe Biden reversed the ban soon after he took office in 2021.
Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks, The Seattle Times