President Donald Trump’s administration asked the US Supreme Court to let his new ban on transgender servicemembers take effect, putting a fresh test of LGBTQ rights and presidential power before the justices.
The Supreme Court allowed Trump’s transgender military ban during his first term in office, but the new policy goes further. If put into effect, it would mean the expulsion of potentially thousands of members of the armed forces, including people who have served openly for years.
In a request filed Thursday, US Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to block a federal district court ruling that put the policy on hold during a legal fight. The ruling forces the government “to maintain a policy that the department has found to be inconsistent with the best interests of the military services and with the interests of national security,” argued Sauer, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer
The filing marks the 10th time the administration has lodged an emergency application with the Supreme Court since Trump took office Jan. 20.
US District Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, said the administration hasn’t shown that the ban “is substantially related to achieving unit cohesion, good order, or discipline.” Settle said in his March 27 decision that, if the policy took effect, current and aspiring servicemembers probably would suffer multiple constitutional violations, including infringement of their rights to equal protection and free speech.
The challengers include seven active-duty servicemembers, along with a man who says he wants to join the Marines. They are led by Navy Commander Emily Shilling, who has flown more than 60 combat missions as a pilot. Shilling, who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq and is a Navy test pilot, says the military has spent more than $20 million training her.
Shilling transitioned within the Navy starting in 2021, when President Joe Biden’s policy let transgender people serve openly in the armed forces.
The Supreme Court asked the challengers to file a response by May 1.
Trump issued his ban through a Jan. 27 executive order. The order said that expressing a “false” gender identity “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle” and “is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
A San Francisco-based federal appeals court on Friday refused to intervene. A different federal appeals court heard arguments on the same issue on Tuesday in Washington, DC.
The request comes as the Supreme Court deliberates over a major transgender-rights case involving state laws that ban puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for those under 18.
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