Transgender troops will be allowed to remain in the US military following a 1 June appeals court ruling, though the military may continue blocking new transgender recruits from enlisting.
The split decision is expected to be challenged by Donald Trump’s administration and could ultimately end up before the US Supreme Court.
The ruling pushes back against Trump’s January 2025 order, which sought to remove transgender military members from service.
The appeals court found that banning transgender people from the armed forces was unlawful and “both arbitrary, and based on animus”, according to circuit judge Robert Wilkins, who formed part of the majority.
However, the ruling was limited in scope. It applies only to the estimated 1,000 transgender people currently serving in the military, rather than those seeking to enlist.
“Driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group”
Wilkins, who was appointed by former Democratic president Barack Obama, said the original order “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender”.
Judge Justin Walker, who was appointed by Trump during his first presidency and was part of the minority in the ruling, argued that the court did not have the authority or experience required to decide the case, according to The Guardian.
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has already suggested the government will appeal the decision.
“See you at SCOTUS,” he wrote on X.
The latest ruling follows a preliminary injunction issued in March 2025 by district court judge Ana Reyes, who temporarily stopped six active-duty transgender service members from being dismissed.
At the time, Reyes wrote: “Every person who has answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect.”
Trump’s January order claimed that transgender people’s gender identity “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honourable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life”.
Hegseth later introduced a policy blocking people with gender dysphoria from signing up to the military.
The appeals court decision offers a temporary protection for currently serving transgender troops, but leaves the future of trans military service uncertain as the legal fight moves towards a likely Supreme Court battle.
