On Dec. 9, a split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the Pentagon can keep enforcing its 2025 policy that bans transgender individuals from service while the government appeals a lower court ruling against the ban, The Advocate reported.
The ruling voided a short-term administrative stay the judges put in place in March and replaced it with a full stay pending appeal of U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes’ injunction.
The panel consists of circuit judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, both appointed by President Donald Trump; and Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, appointed by President Barack Obama. (Pillard was the lone dissent.) The D.C. Circuit has already scheduled a separate oral argument on the appeal of her injunction for Jan. 22.
The Hill noted that, in May, the Supreme Court upheld the ban, ruling after legal challenges ensued over the Trump administration’s executive order directing military officials to weed out servicemembers with a “‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex” assigned at birth.“Today, the court declined to halt the unjust discharge process now threatening thousands of transgender service members,” National Center for LGBTQ+ Rights legal director Shannon Minter—who represents transgender military members in the case—told The Advocate after the ruling. “On Jan. 22, we will argue before the DC Circuit that District Judge Ana Reyes correctly found that this ban causes irreparable harm and is rooted not in facts, data, or reason—but in animus. Notably, all three judges on today’s panel acknowledged that Hegseth’s ban is driven by animus.”