


The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the Trump administration in allowing the Department of Defense to enforce its ban on most transgender military service members while litigation continues.
In a brief order, the justices granted the administration’s emergency request to stay a lower court injunction that had blocked the policy, which bars individuals with gender dysphoria or those who have undergone gender transition medical procedures from serving in the armed forces.
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The district court ruling under review, from Washington state, stemmed from one of several legal challenges targeting President Donald Trump’s executive order and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attempt to implement the policy, which plaintiffs say goes further than past restrictions by requiring immediate discharge of transgender personnel already in the military.
Solicitor General John Sauer argued the injunction improperly intruded on the president’s core military powers, noting that the Supreme Court had allowed a similar Trump-era ban to take effect in 2019.
TRUMP SEEKS SUPREME COURT INTERVENTION IN TRANSGENDER TROOPS BAN
Sauer told the court the ban was rooted in science and that courts owe the executive branch “substantial deference” on military matters.
The justices’ 6-3 decision, to which Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, means the ban will remain in place while the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals hears the government’s appeal — and, if the justices take the case, until the Supreme Court ultimately rules.