A three-panel court blocked the Trump administration from banning transgender troops from the United States military, though it did not alter precedent for new troops wanting to enlist.
The 2-1 ruling, issued Monday by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, blocks the administration from removing currently enlisted transgender service members but continues to allow the policy to continue for new transgender recruits. On May 6, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court in a party-line decision granted the Trump administration’s request to enforce a Department of Defense policy banning transgender individuals from serving in the military while legal challenges in lower courts continued. Legal battles remain ongoing in lower court settings.
The policy “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender,” Judge Robert Wilkins—nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama—wrote for the majority on Monday, according to the Associated. Judge Judith Rogers, nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton, joined Wilkins’ opinion but partially dissented.
Judge Justin Walker, nominated by President Donald Trump, said in a dissenting opinion that judges should not be the ones to decide on what constitutes a military service member within ranks.
“We have neither the expertise nor the authority to decide whether the military can exclude the plaintiffs from its ranks,” Walker wrote. “The Constitution assigns that authority to Congress and the Commander in Chief.
This decision comes roughly one year after a similar ruling made by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C.
In May 2025, Reyes said that Trump’s executive order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights. After Reyes issued a preliminary injunction at the request of attorneys for six transgender people who are active-duty service members and two others seeking to join the military, it was met by an appeal from the Trump administration.
The opinion issued today narrows the scope of Reyes’ ruling, finding that currently serving transgender service members can for now remain in the military while others aspiring to do so cannot.
Rules Rewritten Based on Administrations
Initial efforts to ban transgender troops came from the current commander in chief.
In January 2025, right after assuming office, President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to craft a policy reflecting an administration-wide position that being transgender is “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.” The president added that such individuals’ sexuality “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is detrimental to military readiness.
It was followed by a Pentagon policy issued in February, under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which stated that troops with a history of gender dysphoria, who “exhibit symptoms” of gender dysphoria or who have transitioned to their gender identity, would be disqualified from service.
Both directives were met with legal action from groups including Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, two groups representing plaintiffs challenging the Trump administration’s transgender-based enforcement.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling last May, they issued a joint statement calling it a “devastating blow” to transgender service members, claiming that the policy “has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice.”
The issue at hand has altered based on who has had executive authority.
Obama’s administration first allowed transgender troops to openly serve in 2016, changing prior DOD policy. After a 5-4 court ruling in 2019 reversed the decision in Trump’s favor, President Joe Biden took office in 2021 and reversed the pro-Trump ruling.
After Trump won the 2024 presidential election and a second term, he went further by not just revoking Biden’s order but allowing no exceptions for current transgender service members. Intentions were to identify and remove transgender members of the military within 60 days, whether they were active duty or new recruits.
Read the full article here