US court upholds injunction against Trump policy banning transgender troops

A United States court of appeals has ruled that a policy under President Donald Trump to expel transgender troops from the military was a violation of the Constitution.

But Monday’s decision was a split one among the three-judge panel of the US appeals court for the District of Columbia.

One judge, Robert Wilkins, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, upheld a lower court ruling rejecting the Trump administration’s policy as it pertains to already enlisted service members.

A second judge – Judith Rogers, who was picked by former Democratic President Bill Clinton – agreed with his opinion, but only in part. She felt it should extend to those who seek to enlist, too.

And the third judge, Trump pick Justin Walker, issued a dissent questioning the court’s ability to second-guess US military policy.

Writing for the fractured majority, Wilkins wrote that Trump’s policy violates the “constitutional right to equal protection of the law”.

The case focused on one of the earliest actions Trump took during his second term in office. On January 27, 2025, a week after his second inauguration, Trump issued an executive order called “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness”.

In it, he denounced the US armed forces as having been infiltrated with “radical gender ideology”. He proceeded to describe transgender people as unfit for service for embracing a “false ‘gender identity'”.