A second federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s ban on transgender service members in the U.S. military, a “plainly” discriminatory directive with “no evidence” to support the administration’s claims, according to the ruling.
“The government’s arguments are not persuasive, and it is not an especially close question on this record,” George W. Bush-appointed District Judge Benjamin Settle wrote in a 65-page opinion Thursday.
Trump’s executive order — one of several that explicitly removes federal recognition of trans people — claims that the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
“The government has … provided no evidence supporting the conclusion that military readiness, unit cohesion, lethality, or any of the other touchstone phrases long used to exclude various groups from service have in fact been adversely impacted by open transgender service,” Settle wrote.
“The Court can only find that there is none,” he said.
Settle’s decision — the second nationwide injunction targeting the Trump administration’s policy — follows a lawsuit from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Lambda Legal representing seven actively serving trans troops.
“Transgender service members meet the same rigorous standards and requirements as any other soldier and this ban does nothing other than compromise our country’s national security for the sole purpose of discrimination,” Human Rights Campaign Foundation legal vice president Sarah Warbelow said in a statement after the decision.
The decision “affirms what we have long maintained: that banning Americans from military service solely because they are transgender is not only unconstitutional but undermines our national security and military readiness,” according to Lambda Legal counsel Kell Olson. “These brave individuals deserve to be judged on their ability to serve, just like everyone else. While this injunction is an important step forward, we continue to fight until this discriminatory ban is permanently struck down.”
Last month, the Department of Defense ordered that the removal of all trans service members across all branches of the military “must be completed” no later than June 25. The order also immediately bans access to gender-affirming care for all trans service members.
Following a separate lawsuit from more than 20 plaintiffs, including decorated trans service members, Washington, D.C., District Judge Ana Reyes temporarily blocked what she called a policy that is “soaked with animus and dripping with pretext” to discriminate against trans people.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon officials scrambled to issue new guidance, but District Judge Ana Reyes ruled this week that the government's arguments supporting the changes — which scrutinized service members’ history of gender dysphoria — were “equally unpersuasive.”
“Defendants cannot evade discriminating against transgender people simply by labeling the policy as addressing gender dysphoria,” she wrote in a scorching opinion Wednesday.
The Trump administration has appealed both rulings.
“Thousands of transgender service members currently serving have clearly demonstrated they meet all military standards, with many deployed to critical missions worldwide, proving their capabilities beyond question,” according to Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD Law, which is suing the Trump administration on behalf of two dozen trans service members.
“President Trump's executive order and Secretary Hegseth's implementation represent a policy that cannot be constitutionally justified,” she added.
