The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a ban on transgenders serving in the military can go into effect as the case challenging it makes its way through federal court.
The ruling was 6-3, with the liberal members of the court, justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson opposing the decision.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration’s transgender military ban to take effect. pic.twitter.com/qUBz7zYFfX
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 6, 2025
Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring those who do not identify with their biological gender from serving in the military.
“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” the order read in part, while also citing the “hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved” for someone choosing to identify as a different gender.
In February, the Department of Defense issued the ban, prompting seven current transgender service members, one transgender person who would like to join the military, and an advocacy group to file a suit in federal court challenging it, SCOTUSblog reported.
On March 27, federal district court Judge Benjamin H. Settle, based in Tacoma, Washington, issued a nationwide injunction blocking the ban in the case known as Shilling v. U.S., named for the lead plaintiff, Cmdr. Emily Shilling, a Naval aviator who began transitioning in 2021, according to The New York Times.
Pres. Trump signed an executive order that could lead to a ban on transgender troops serving in the military — and civil rights groups are filing suits in response.
U.S. Navy commander Emily “Hawking” Shilling and Sasha Buchert of @LambdaLegal join @TerryMoran to discuss. pic.twitter.com/Dmm76iPO38
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) January 29, 2025
“There is no claim and no evidence that she is now, or ever was, a detriment to her unit’s cohesion, or to the military’s lethality or readiness, or that she is mentally or physically unable to continue her service,” Judge Settle wrote concerning Shilling.
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A three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Settle’s nationwide injunction last month.
The Trump administration then filed an application at the Supreme Court for an emergency stay on Settle’s order.
“Absent a stay, the district court’s universal injunction will remain in place for the duration of further review in the Ninth Circuit and in this Court – a period far too long for the military to be forced to maintain a policy that it has determined, in its professional judgment, to be contrary to military readiness and the Nation’s interests,” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote the court.
The Times reported that there are about 4,200 service members who identify as transgender.
BREAKING: Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to implement ban on transgender people in the military
WE ARE LEAVING WOKENESS AND WEAKNESS BEHIND – Sec of Defense pic.twitter.com/BpezJMds2z
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 6, 2025
During his first term, Trump also issued a ban on transgenders serving in the military, which was blocked by two federal judges.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote in 2019, allowed the ban to take effect while the case worked its way through the court system.
Then-President Joe Biden rescinded the ban in January 2021, and his Department of Justice dropped the cases.
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