by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News May 7, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Department of Defense can enforce President Donald Trump's executive order which prohibits transgender individuals from serving in the military.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices paused an order by a federal judge in Washington state that had barred the government from implementing the policy anywhere in the United States.
The high court's decision will enable the Pentagon to enforce Trump's order while legal challenges proceed.
The Pentagon issued Trump's ban on Feb. 26. Trump's order generally disqualifies anyone who either has "gender dysphoria" or has undergone medical interventions to treat "gender dysphoria" from serving in the military.
The Defense Department stated that “the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”
Seven current trans members of the armed forces, along with one trans individual who would like to join the military along with a nonprofit with members who either are transgender troops or would like to be, went to federal court to challenge Trump's order.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle agreed with the plaintiffs that the ban violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. He called the policy a “de facto blanket ban on transgender service.”
After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected the government’s request to freeze Settle’s order while the government’s appeal went forward, the Trump Administration took its case to the Supreme Court on April 24.
In a brief unsigned order issued on Tuesday afternoon, the Supreme Court granted the Trump Administration’s request to pause Settle’s order while the government’s appeal proceeds in the 9th Circuit and, if necessary, the Supreme Court.
The court’s three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, indicated that they would have denied the government’s request to pause Settle's order.
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