Federal Judge Blocks Trump Ban on Transgender People Serving in Military

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday blocked the Pentagon from enforcing President Trump’s executive order that bars transgender individuals from serving openly in the military. The ruling marks yet another legal defeat for Trump as he pushes forward with one of his key policy goals.

Judge Ana Reyes ruled that Trump’s order was likely unconstitutional. In January, the White House had directed the military to adopt a policy stating that transgender individuals fail to meet the “high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity.”

Reyes, appointed by President Biden, found that the administration’s military policy likely violated constitutional equal protection rights, overstepping the authority of both the White House and the Defense Department. She concluded that the restrictions were rooted in stigma rather than legitimate policy concerns.

“The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender service members have sacrificed—some risking their lives—to protect the very equal protection rights that the Military Ban seeks to strip away,” Reyes wrote in a 79-page opinion. “The Court’s opinion is long, but its premise is simple: In the self-evident truth that ‘all people are created equal,’ all means all. Nothing more. And certainly nothing less.”

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by current and prospective transgender service members who argued that Trump’s order ignored research showing their presence has no meaningful impact on military readiness. They claimed the policy discriminates against them based on sex and gender.

The government defended the order, arguing that military leadership has broad discretion in setting medical standards for service members.

Reyes’s ruling is set to take effect Friday. The White House did not immediately comment.

In late February, the Pentagon issued new guidance barring individuals with a diagnosis, symptoms, or history of gender dysphoria from serving. The policy also applies to those who have transitioned or attempted to do so.

Trump had reviewed troops at the U.S. Capitol during inauguration ceremonies in January.

The policy includes a narrow exemption for transgender individuals if there is a “compelling Government interest…that directly supports warfighting capabilities.” However, to qualify, individuals must never have attempted to transition, must be willing to adhere to their birth sex’s service requirements, and must show no signs of gender dysphoria for three years.

Reyes dismissed this exemption as “in name only.”

During hearings, the judge pressed government lawyers on whether the policy was effectively a blanket ban on transgender service. “Can you and I agree this is essentially a null set, that this was designed to exclude all transgender people?” she asked a Justice Department attorney earlier this month.

Reyes’s ruling followed extensive legal arguments and multiple hearings. She had held off on issuing an injunction until the new policy was finalized and made public in late February. The policy stated that identifying or discharging transgender service members wouldn’t begin before March 26.

Trump has pledged sweeping rollbacks of transgender rights since returning to office. In addition to the military ban, he signed an executive order restricting gender-affirming care for minors, which federal judges in Maryland and Washington have blocked. Around half of U.S. states have restrictions on such treatments, and the Supreme Court is reviewing a Tennessee case on whether states can impose such limits.

Other Trump directives rolling back Biden-era policies remain in legal limbo, including efforts to make it harder to change gender markers on passports and housing rules for transgender federal inmates.

During his first term, Trump also sought to overturn an Obama-era policy allowing transgender individuals to serve openly. That order was blocked in court, and a watered-down version took effect in 2019, though transgender troops continued serving in the meantime. His latest order is broader than his 2017 attempt.

The Biden administration had reversed Trump’s previous policy, allowing transgender individuals to enlist and receive medical care. Estimates of transgender service members vary; a 2016 Defense Department study by the Rand Corporation estimated between 1,320 and 6,630 transgender personnel were on active duty out of approximately 1.3 million total service members.