Trump’s Order on Transgender Troop Ban Blocked by Federal Judge

Transgender servicemembers convinced a federal D.C. judge to halt the Trump administration executive order that bans them from the military.

The servicemembers are likely to show that they will succeed in their constitutional challenge, said Judge Ana C. Reyes of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in a Tuesday order granting a preliminary injunction.

“The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed—some risking their lives—to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them,” Reyes wrote in her order.

The court’s order will maintain the status quo of military policy regarding trans servicemembers that existed immediately before President Donald Trump took office.

The preliminary injunction ruling comes after the Department of Defense released new guidelines that said a gender dysphoria diagnosis, or symptoms in line with one, were incompatible with military service.

Several transgender soldiers and aspirants said that the executive order that preceded the regulations violated the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. The plaintiffs now seek injunctive relief, and say the new policy would exclude them from the military without exception.

After the Defense Department released the February policy, the court ordered it to submit by March 1 financial information detailing how much it had spent on medical care from 2015 to 2024, and what mental conditions would disqualify someone from military service.

The military in response cited a Defense Department regulation that lists autism, bipolar, and eating disorders, among many conditions that would prevent someone from joining the army. Other conditions aren’t immediately disqualifying so long as someone meets additional criteria.

Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP, Kropf Moseley PLLC, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Wardenski PC, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders represent the transgender soldiers.

The case is Talbott v. Trump, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00240, hearing 3/12/25.