{"id":1718,"date":"2026-06-01T20:34:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T20:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1718"},"modified":"2026-06-01T20:34:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T20:34:01","slug":"pentagon-policy-illegally-banned-transgender-troops-from-military-service-appeals-court-panel-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1718","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, appeals court panel rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>WASHINGTON<\/strong>  | A Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, a divided panel of federal appeal court judges ruled on Monday in another legal setback for President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping agenda.<\/p>\n<p>The majority opinion \u2014 by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit \u2014 held that the Trump administration\u2019s policy was designed to exclude people from the military based on their gender identity.<\/p>\n<p>The ban remains in effect. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Pentagon to start enforcing it last year, as litigation continues to plays out.<\/p>\n<p>The panel\u2019s new ruling would keep the military from kicking out current service members named in the lawsuit, but wouldn\u2019t allow new transgender recruits to join. The judges put their decision on hold, though, to let the administration seek further review.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The appeals court panel\u2019s 2-1 decision partially upholds a March 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C. Reyes concluded that Trump\u2019s executive order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights.<\/p>\n<p>The administration appealed after Reyes issued a preliminary injunction requested by attorneys for several transgender people who are active-duty service members and others seeking to join the military. The appeals court\u2019s majority decided that the injunction should be narrowed to the plaintiffs currently serving in the military but not those trying to enlist.<\/p>\n<p>Another lawsuit challenging the ban was filed in Washington state and led to a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs challenging the policy in that case, though it\u2019s been blocked by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members \u201cconflicts with a soldier\u2019s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one\u2019s personal life\u201d and is harmful to military readiness.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualifies people with gender dysphoria from military service. Gender dysphoria is the distress that a person feels because their assigned gender and gender identity don\u2019t match. The medical condition has been linked to depression and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>The policy \u201cappears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender,\u201d Judge Robert Wilkins wrote for the majority. Wilkins was nominated to the court by Democratic President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<p>In a dissenting opinion, Judge Justin Walker said judges lack the power to second-guess the decision to exclude transgender troops.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have neither the expertise nor the authority to decide whether the military can exclude the plaintiffs from its ranks. The Constitution assigns that authority to Congress and the Commander in Chief,\u201d wrote Walker, who was nominated by Trump, a Republican.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Judith Rogers, who was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton, joined Wilkins\u2019 majority opinion but also partially dissented. Rogers wrote that she would also have allowed new transgender recruits named in the lawsuit to join.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1713\">Colorado elections clerk set to be released from prison Monday based on her sentence commutation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1715\">PERRY: Colorado\u2019s lone anti-union scheme remains as a stain on state democracy, fairness<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1716\">Colorado elections clerk released from Pueblo prison after Gov. Polis commutes her sentence<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON | A Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, a divided panel of federal appeal court judges ruled on Monday in another legal setback for President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping agenda. The majority opinion \u2014 by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit \u2014 held [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[2614,252,2655,1617,511],"class_list":["post-1718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-pentagon","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-south-korea","tag-u-s-army-2","tag-u-s-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, appeals court panel rules - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1718\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, appeals court panel rules - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON | A Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, a divided panel of federal appeal court judges ruled on Monday in another legal setback for President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping agenda. 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