BREAKING: Supreme Court allows Trump admin to enforce trans troops ban

The Supreme Court has blocked a lower court ruling that prevented the Trump administration from banning transgender persons from serving in the US Armed Forces. The ruling clears the way for the Pentagon to implement the order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The order reads: "The application for stay presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is granted. The March 27, 2025 preliminary injunction entered by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, case No, 2:25-cv-241, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court."

The order in the pending case also noted that Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson "would deny the application." 

This overturns the nationwide injunction in a case brought by transgender service members in Washington state. In that case, Federal District Court Judge Benjamin H. Settle said the ban could not be implemented, as per the AP.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first week in office barring transgender persons from serving in the US Armed Forces and that order was backed up by Hegseth. Trump said at the time that the "adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual's sex conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful and discplined lifestyle." 

Following the ban, the administration was sued by seven active service members who sought to block the policy, saying that it was discriminatory and in violation of the Constitution's equal protection clause. Commander Emily Shilling, one of those person's who brought the case, began transitioning while in the military, meaning that the Navy paid the cost of those transition procedures.

It was the case of Shilling that Settle referenced in saying "There is no claim and no evidence that she is now, or ever was, a detriment to her unit’s cohesion, or to the military’s lethality or readiness, or that she is mentally or physically unable to continue her service. There is no claim and no evidence that Shilling herself is dishonest or selfish, or that she lacks humility or integrity. Yet absent an injunction, she will be promptly discharged solely because she is transgender."

The Trump administration appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering the appeal of the case but did not block the injunction. The administration then brought the case to the Supreme Court, seeking emergency relief, which was then granted.