The Trump administration has requested that the Supreme Court review a lower court ruling that blocked its ban on transgender individuals in the military.
Trump’s executive order targeted the presence of “radical gender ideology” in the Armed Forces, which sought to “appease activists unconcerned with the requirements of military service like physical and mental health, selflessness, and unit cohesion,” the order said.
“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” the order added. “A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
“Absent a stay, the district court’s universal injunction will remain in place for the duration of further review in the Ninth Circuit and in this Court – a period far too long for the military to be forced to maintain a policy that it has determined, in its professional judgment, to be contrary to military readiness and the Nation’s interests,” a filing to the Supreme Court says.
The filing adds that the policy adopted by the Defense Department “generally disqualifies from military service individuals who have gender dysphoria or have undergone medical interventions for gender dysphoria.”
In March, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle found that the Trump administration “falls well short of its burden to show that banning transgender service is substantially related to achieving unit cohesion, good order, or discipline.”
“Although the Court gives deference to military decision making, it would be an abdication to ignore the government’s flat failure to address plaintiffs’ uncontroverted evidence that years of open transgender service promoted these objectives,” Settle wrote.
A similar injunction was issued against Trump’s order by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes.
