WASHINGTON (AP) — On Thursday, President Donald Trump’s administration requested
the Supreme Court
to allow enforcement of
A prohibition against transgender individuals serving in the armed forces.
while legal challenges continue.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer stated that without a directive from the country’s top judicial body, the prohibition couldn’t come into force for several months — “a duration much too lengthy for the armed forces to keep upholding a stance they deem counterproductive to both military preparedness and national interests,” as per his writing.
The submission to the Supreme Court comes after a short directive from a federal appellate court maintained an injunction halting the policy across the country.
At minimum, as Sauer stated, the court ought to permit the ban to be implemented across the country, with the exception of the seven servicemen and one prospective member of the armed forces who filed lawsuits.
The court allowed one week for the lawyers of the service members contesting the ban to submit their response.
Shortly after starting his second term in January, Trump swiftly took action to dismantle various policies.
the entitlements of transgender individuals
Among the actions taken by the Republican president was an executive order stating that the gender identity of transgender service members conflicts with soldiers’ dedication to honor, truthfulness, and discipline, even in their private lives. The order also claimed this issue negatively impacts military preparedness.
As a reply, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated
issued a policy
that presumably excludes transgender individuals from serving in the military.
However, in March, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle based in Tacoma, Washington, sided with multiple long-standing transgender service members who argue that the ban is hurtful and unjust, asserting that their dismissal would inflict significant harm on both their careers and reputations.
Judge Settle noted that the Trump administration provided no rationale for why transgender service members, who have been allowed to serve openly without issues during the previous four years, should now face prohibition. This jurist was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush and previously served as a captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps.
In 2016, when Barack Obama was president, the Defense Department adopted a policy allowing transgender individuals to serve openly in the armed forces. However, during Donald Trump’s first term as President at the White House, he implemented a rule banning transgender personnel from serving, except for those who had begun their transition process under the less restrictive guidelines enforced during Obama’s time as head of the Democratic-led executive branch.
The Supreme Court
permit that restriction to come into force
. President Joe Biden, who belongs to the Democratic Party,
scrapped it
when he took office.
The regulations that the Defense Department aims to implement have no exemptions.
Sauer stated that the policy from Trump’s initial tenure and the one that has been halted are “substantially identical.”
There are thousands of transgender individuals serving in the armed forces, yet they make up less than 1 percent of all active-duty personnel.
The policy was likewise prevented from being implemented by a federal judge in Washington D.C., yet this decision was momentarily suspended by a federal appellate court following hearings conducted on Tuesday. During these proceedings, a three-judge panel comprising two jurists nominated by President Trump early in his tenure seemed inclined towards supporting the government’s stance.
In a narrower judgment, a judge from New Jersey similarly ruled
barred the Air Force
from removing two transgender men, saying they showed their separation would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations that no monetary settlement could repair.
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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.
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