US Court Blocks Pentagon from Removing Transgender Troops, for Now

The 2025 policy was unlawfully motivated by “a desire to harm a politically unpopular group,” a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in a 2-1 decision Opens in new tab

But the court said the Pentagon has broad powers to set draft standards and can continue to ban transgender people from new enlistments in the military pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by current transgender individuals and military candidates.

“It seems to us that ending a military career is a much greater challenge than delaying its beginning,” wrote Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama.

District Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, said in a dissenting opinion that courts “have neither the expertise nor the authority to decide whether the military can exclude plaintiffs from its ranks.”

Jennifer Levi of GLAD Law, the LGBTQ rights group that represented the plaintiffs, applauded the decision.

“This definitive decision confirms that the Trump Administration has no legitimate basis to terminate transgender service members who have met all rigorous standards and have repeatedly proven their fitness and commitment to serve,” Levi said in a statement. he said.

Defense Minister Pete Hegseth stated that the government would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. “See you at SCOTUS,” Hegseth wrote to X in response to a Fox News correspondent’s post about the decision.

The ruling partially upheld a ‌2025 decision by a Washington, D.C.-based federal judge that blocked implementation of the entire policy pending further litigation. The judge said the policy amounted to sex discrimination and likely violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

Trump said in a January 2025 executive order that embracing a transgender identity “conflicts with a service member’s commitment to a life of honor, integrity, and discipline.” Hegseth soon implemented Trump’s order, sparking legal challenges.

The ban on military service is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to eliminate the recognition and accommodation of transgender people throughout American life.

Federal agencies have dropped lawsuits filed on behalf of transgender workers, ended settlements benefiting transgender students, and launched investigations into hospitals and doctors who provided gender-affirming treatment to minors.

According to Department of Defense data, the military has approximately 1.3 million active duty personnel. While transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender soldiers, authorities say the number is in the thousands.

In May 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a judge’s decision in a separate case in Washington state that had temporarily blocked the ban, allowing the policy to be implemented.

But Wilkins wrote for the D.C. Circuit on Monday that the Supreme Court did not explain its reasoning and may have decided on a technicality rather than the merits of the case.