Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow military’s transgender ban

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow the Pentagon to enforce a ban on transgender troops serving in the military, rocketing the issue up to the high court for a second time.

The petition asks the justices to weigh whether the ban is constitutional and reverse an appeals court decision that blocked the administration from using it to expel members who are already serving.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued the block was a “gravely erroneous holding,” writing the authority of the U.S. military to determine who can serve in the armed forces is a “matter of exceptional importance.”

“Whether the Constitution prohibits the military from exercising that authority by adopting a policy like the one here is a recurring issue, which has arisen before and will likely arise again absent this Court’s review,” he wrote.

The justices have sole discretion over which cases they take up and will likely consider the petition during a closed-door meeting when they return from summer recess.

President Trump issued an executive order shortly after returning to the White House that banned all transgender troops from the U.S. military, arguing they threaten readiness and undermine unit cohesion.

The decision was criticized by a group of Senate Democrats, arguing the commander in chief was violating the service members’ civil rights and hindering U.S. national security.

In the months since, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed various documents to carry out the directive. Hegseth signed a memo in February last year that transgender service members would be removed within 60 days unless they were granted a waiver showing their support of “warfighting capabilities.”

Many transgender service members have voluntarily left the military since.

Hegseth has railed against transgender people in recent weeks, using a slur during his speech at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month when speaking about transgender troops in the military.

During a speech this week in Oshkosh, Wis., the Defense secretary said the Pentagon is focused on restoring “warrior ethos,” which means “no more DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion].” He continued, “It means colorblind, gender neutral, merit-based, back to basics across the board no matter if you’re carrying a rifle or you’re working on the plant floor.”

A divided panel for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found in June that the policy was motivated by animus against transgender people and violated their constitutional right to equal protection.

“The sharp contrast to the Mattis Policy, adopted in the first Trump Administration, which allowed servicemembers who were transgender or who had suffered from gender dysphoria to remain in the military, appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender,” U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins wrote in the appeals court decision .

The 2-1 ruling barred the Pentagon from enforcing the ban against a group of active service members who had brought the challenge. It did not, however, extend that to people seeking to enlist in the U.S. military.

U.S. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, reminded his colleagues that “we are judges not generals” in a dissenting opinion.

Lawyers representing the plaintiffs urged the Supreme Court on Friday to reject the administration’s request, noting the case is scheduled to go to trial in January.

“The Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to rush in and bless the expulsion of proven, decorated soldiers before a single court has issued a final judgment,” Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, said in a statement . “There is no circuit split, no emergency, and no merit – only a policy that multiple courts have now found was driven by prejudice rather than military need.”

The Supreme Court allowed the administration to temporarily move forward with the policy in a ruling on the emergency docket in May 2025, lifting a nationwide injunction in a separate case. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

That lawsuit, which was brought in February on behalf of seven openly transgender service members, another transgender person who wishes to enlist and an advocacy group, is pending at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.