Washington — President Trump on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow his administration’s policy prohibiting transgender people from serving in the military to take effect while legal challenges to the ban move forward.
The request for the Supreme Court’s intervention comes after a federal appeals left in place a lower court order that prevents the Trump administration from enforcing the ban nationwide. The administration has attacked these broad orders, known as nationwide or universal injunctions, issued by federal district court judges as improperly setting policy for the country.
Mr. Trump banned transgender people from serving in the military during his first term in office, but the policy was rescinded by former President Joe Biden. When Mr. Trump returned to office in January for his second term, he issued a new executive order that declared it to be U.S. government policy to “establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,” and said that policy is “inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria.”
On the heels of the president’s order, the Defense Department issued a new policy in February that generally disqualifies from military service people with gender dysphoria or who have undergone medical interventions for gender dysphoria.
The case before the Supreme Court arose out a challenge to the ban filed in Washington state, which was brought by seven transgender service members, one transgender person who wants to join the military and an advocacy group. They argued that the president’s ban violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection and the First Amendment.
A federal district court in March agreed to block implementation of the executive order and required the Trump administration to maintain the policy put in place by its predecessor. The Justice Department then asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to pause that decision, allowing it the ban to take effect, but it denied the request.