Trump asks Supreme Court to allow ban on transgender members of the military to take effect, for now

U.S. Army soldiers cross a floating bridge on the Imjin River during a joint river-crossing exercise between South Korea and the United States as a part of the Freedom Shield military exercise in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Thursday, March 20, 2025.

(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed.

Without an order from the nation’s highest court, the ban could not take effect for many months, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote, “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.”

The high court filing follows a brief order from a federal appeals court that kept in place a court order blocking the policy nationwide.