In a major legal victory for the Trump administration, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Donald Trump’s controversial ban on transgender individuals serving in the military to take effect while ongoing lawsuits continue in lower courts.
In a brief order, the nation’s highest court granted the administration’s emergency request to lift a nationwide injunction that had temporarily blocked the policy. This decision permits the military to begin enforcing the ban, although it does not end legal challenges to the measure.
Notably, the court’s decision was not unanimous. The three liberal justices dissented.
The ruling arrives as more than 4,000 transgender individuals actively serve in the U.S. military, according to official Defense Department data. These service members now face uncertainty as the ban threatens their roles and futures in the armed forces.
The announcement sparked strong reactions from military leadership and supporters of the ban. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking bluntly on X (formerly Twitter), wrote simply:
“No more trans @ DoD.”
In a separate Defense Department post earlier in the day, even before the Supreme Court’s decision was public, Hegseth doubled down in a video, stating:
“No more dudes in dresses. We are done with that s—.”
