Trump Urges Supreme Court to Reinstate Transgender Military Ban Amid Ongoing Legal Battle
by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The Trump administration on Thursday escalated its legal battle over the military’s transgender service ban by taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to lift a lower court’s injunction and allowing the policy to take effect while litigation continues.
In a formal petition to the high court, Solicitor General Dean John Sauer argued that the nationwide injunction imposed by a federal district court in Washington state obstructs the constitutional authority of the executive branch, specifically the Department of Defense, to regulate military personnel based on health and readiness criteria.
Sauer asked the justices to stay the injunction, allowing the Department of Defense to enforce the ban as the case proceeds through the judicial system.
“The Department rationally determined that service by individuals with gender dysphoria would undermine military effectiveness and lethality — consistent with similar, longstanding determinations for a wide range of other medical conditions (such as asthma and hypertension),” Sauer wrote in the filing.
The contested policy, initially issued by President Trump in February, prohibits individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria or those who have undergone gender transition-related medical procedures from enlisting or serving in the U.S. military.
According to the administration, the directive was informed by a panel of military experts convened during Trump’s first term, which concluded that allowing individuals with gender dysphoria to serve was incompatible with key military objectives.
“The policy was based in part on the findings of a panel of experts convened during the first Trump Administration, which found that service by individuals with gender dysphoria was contrary to ‘military effectiveness and lethality,’” the filing stated.
The White House noted that a lower court previously blocked a similar ban, but the Supreme Court later upheld it, and now seeks the same outcome.
The current challenge, brought by seven transgender individuals, claims the policy violates the Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment, and due process rights. A federal judge in Washington issued a broad injunction, halting enforcement.
The challengers must respond by May 1 in United States of America v. Emily Shilling.
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