The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender-identifying individuals in the military, pausing an order by a lower court that had blocked the new Department of Defense rule from going into effect.

At issue was a Department of Defense rule that reversed a Biden administration policy allowing trans-identifying persons to serve. That Biden rule had overturned a policy in Trump’s first term that largely prohibited such individuals in the military. The Obama administration was the first to issue guidance permitting individuals who identify as the opposite sex to serve, although that policy did not go fully into effect before he left office.

The Supreme Court’s order broke down along ideological lines, with the court’s liberal bloc — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson -- stating they would have allowed the lower court order to stand. The court’s conservative bloc -- Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett -- sided with the Trump administration.

The Feb. 26 DOD memo stated that “individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”

“Service in the Military Services is open to all persons who can meet the high standards for military service and readiness without special accommodations,” the memo stated.

“It is the policy of the United States Government to establish high standards for Service member readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,” the memo said. “This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria or who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria.”

Former President Biden signed an executive order in January 2021 overturning the Trump administration’s policy that limited transgender service in the military, saying in a statement that the U.S. is “safer” when everyone can serve. Trump, in his first month in office this year, reversed the Biden executive order and ordered the Department of Defense to put in place a ban on trans-identifying individuals.

“Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” the Trump executive order stated. “Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, 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. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.

“For the sake of our Nation and the patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve it, military service must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty,” the Trump order added. “The Armed Forces must adhere to high mental and physical health standards to ensure our military can deploy, fight, and win, including in austere conditions and without the benefit of routine medical treatment or special provisions.”

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