{"id":581,"date":"2026-08-28T19:41:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T19:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=581"},"modified":"2026-08-28T19:41:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T19:41:39","slug":"trump-administration-asks-supreme-court-to-consider-ban-on-transgender-persons-in-the-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=581","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration asks Supreme Court to consider ban on transgender persons in the military"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Trump administration on Friday the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether a ban on transgender service members in the military violates the Constitution. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer called a decision by a federal appeals court that barred the government from enforcing the ban \u201cgravely erroneous.\u201d \u201cIf allowed to stand,\u201d Sauer told the justices, the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit \u201cwould represent an \u2018unprecedented intervention into military affairs,\u2019 in contravention of this Court\u2019s precedents requiring \u2018defer[ence] to the political branches\u2019 military judgments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more The Supreme Court of Israel<\/a><\/p>\n

The Trump administration adopted the policy last year, shortly after President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration for his second term. Trump signed an executive order that required Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to put into effect a ban on \u201cindividuals with gender dysphoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Feb. 26, the Department of Defense\u00a0, which generally disqualifies anyone who either has gender dysphoria or has undergone medical interventions to treat gender dysphoria from serving in the military. The department explained that \u201cthe medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group of transgender people who either currently serve in the U.S. military or want to serve in the military challenged the ban in federal court in Washington, D.C., arguing that the policy violates their constitutional right to fair treatment by the government. The policy, they contended, is based on \u201canimosity toward transgender people\u201d because they are transgender and does not serve any real government purpose.<\/p>\n

On March 18, 2025, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued an order that temporarily prohibited the Trump administration from implementing the ban. She agreed with the challengers that the ban is \u201csoaked in animus\u201d and does not serve any legitimate government interest. \u201cIts language,\u201d she wrote, \u201cis unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration appealed to the D.C. Circuit, which issued an administrative stay \u2013 a pause to keep Reyes\u2019 order on hold until that court could rule on the dispute.<\/p>\n

In May 2025, the Supreme Court an order by a federal judge in a different challenge, filed in Washington state, that had barred the government from implementing the policy anywhere in the United States. That case is still pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.<\/p>\n

Read more The Supreme Court\u2019s realignment roundup: October Term 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

On June 1, 2026, a divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit part of Reyes\u2019 order, holding that the government could not enforce the ban against the challengers who were already in the military.<\/p>\n

Judge Robert Wilkins found \u201cdirect evidence\u201d that the ban was motivated by animosity towards transgender people. He wrote that the policy\u2019s \u201cfoundational premises\u201d are \u201canimus-filled\u201d: It rests on the idea that \u201cpersons with a \u2018false gender identity\u2019 are unfit for the military, and persons with a history of gender dysphoria are also unfit because they lack \u2018honesty, humility, \u2026 and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Trump administration\u2019s on Friday seeking review of the D.C. Circuit\u2019s decision, Sauer told the justices that the case involved \u201can issue of exceptional and recurring importance\u201d: \u201cthe authority of the federal government to determine who may serve in the Nation\u2019s armed forces.\u201d Here, he wrote, \u201cthe military has determined\u201d that the policy \u201cis necessary to maintain its \u2018rigorous standards\u2019 and \u2018deliver a ready, deployable force.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauer also contended that the lower court applied an overly stringent standard, known as heightened scrutiny, in concluding that the ban violates the Constitution. He stressed that a less exacting standard, known as rational basis review, should apply because the policy doesn\u2019t discriminate against transgender people but instead \u201cclassifi[es] based on a medical condition (gender dysphoria).\u201d Under rational basis review, he said, the government is only required to show that there are \u201c\u2018plausible reasons\u2019\u201d for its actions, which there are: \u201cthe government has undisputedly legitimate interests in maintaining military readiness, cohesion, and good order and discipline, as well as in managing the military\u2019s costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challengers\u2019 response to the petition will be due in approximately one month.<\/p>\n

Read more Government urges SCOTUS to deny 9\/11 petitions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration on Friday the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether a ban on transgender service members in the military violates the Constitution. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer called a decision by a federal appeals court that barred the government from enforcing the ban \u201cgravely erroneous.\u201d \u201cIf allowed to stand,\u201d Sauer told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump administration asks Supreme Court to consider ban on transgender persons in the military - American Service Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=581\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump administration asks Supreme Court to consider ban on transgender persons in the military - American Service Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Trump administration on Friday the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether a ban on transgender service members in the military violates the Constitution. 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