US court blocks Trump’s trans military ban as judge blasts policy as ‘demeaning’
The outcome follows Trump’s January 2025 executive order titled Prioritising Military Excellence and Readiness, which excluded transgender people from military service
By Aaron Sugg
The US appeals court has said transgender personnel can remain in the military, temporarily blocking parts of Donald Trump’s January 2025 order.
In a 2-1 ruling, the court’s decision allows current transgender troops to continue serving, but it also permits the armed forces to maintain restrictions on new transgender recruits.
Introduced on Monday (1 June), a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit criticised the Trump-era policy, describing its treatment of trans people as “demeaning” and “disparaging”.
“Some of those disqualifications are completely unexplained” – judge Robert Wilkins on Donald Trump’s trans US military ban
The outcome follows Trump’s January 2025 executive order titled Prioritising Military Excellence and Readiness, which excluded transgender people from military service.
“Some of those disqualifications are completely unexplained and have no reasonable justification,” wrote judge Robert Wilkins for the court. The policy is instead “driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender.”
“As a result, this is not a case where we are left to speculate why the government drafted such broad, undifferentiated classifications,” he wrote.
The US appeals court ruling will allow the Pentagon to continue denying new trans recruits
“Unless we are going to fall for the old Groucho Marx line – ‘who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?’ – we have direct evidence in this case that animus motivated the classifications.”
Despite the positive outcome for current trans troops, the ruling will allow the Pentagon to continue denying new trans recruits while the legal challenge is ongoing.
The decision by the US appeals court follows a string of legal challenges and initial implementation guidance by the Department of Defense.
The trans US military debate is expected to move through further appeals
In March 2025, a federal district court issued an injunction blocking parts of the policy, including removals of some service members, causing implementation to be revised and paused.
The executive order was then partially allowed again by the Supreme Court, though it has since been subject to ongoing litigation.
The case is now set to move through further appeals, with Judge Justin Walker arguing that the judiciary did not have the necessary authority to make a decision on the US trans military ban.