- The Supreme Court has allowed enforcement of the Trump administration's ban on transgender military service.
- The ruling was made after the administration sought emergency relief from the court.
- Litigation around the transgender troop ban continues in lower courts and may return to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court said Tuesday the Trump administration can start enforcing a ban on transgender troops serving in the military, undoing rulings from lower courts.
The Supreme Court’s ruling was brief, gave no reasons and was unsigned, all things which are typical when the justices act on emergency applications, according to The New York Times. It will remain in place as challenges to the ban continue in lower courts.
Dissents were noted from the court’s three liberal members — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a devastating blow to transgender service members who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense,” said a statement from Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, per The New York Times.
A previous ruling from a federal judge had deemed the ban unconstitutional.
Trump’s executive orders dealing with transgender troops
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on the first day in his second term banning transgender troops from serving in the military. The order issued in January 2025 reversed an order from former President Joe Biden.
Trump’s order was followed by the Pentagon pausing the acceptance of transgender recruits.
It was in 2016 that transgender troops were first allowed to serve openly in the military, according to The Washington Post.
What case did the Supreme Court rule on?
After Trump issued the ban in January, multiple gay and transgender rights groups sued the administration on the behalf of seven transgender service members as well as one prospective member, per The Washington Post.
The lawsuit claimed the order was discriminatory, a waste of years of military training and a threat to national security.
In March, a U.S. District Court judge based in Washington state, Benjamin Settle, ruled that the president’s order likely violates the fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution and blocked the ban, per Reuters.
The case then went to the 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals which refused to block Settle’s ruling as it considered an appeal from the administration.
The Trump administration sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court, leading to Tuesday’s ruling.
According to Reuters, litigation around the ban will continue in lower courts and could potentially return to the Supreme Court in the future.
What the policy looks like under Trump’s executive order
Following Trump’s executive order on transgender troops, the Pentagon issued a new policy ordering each branch to identify service members with gender dysphoria within 30 days and to begin removing them 30 days after that, per The Washington Post
According to The New York Times, around 0.2% of the military is transgender, around 4,200 current service members.
The order makes an exception for troops that are directly supporting “warfighting capabilities.”
The troops that obtain a waiver to stay in the military will face additional restrictions. These restrictions include not being able to access the bathrooms, changing rooms and showers for people of the sex they transitioned to.
These troops will also be required to meet the physical standards associated with their birth sex.