Justice Department petitions Supreme Court for immediate ban on transgender troops in military

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday petitioned the Supreme Court to allow the Pentagon’s ban on transgender people serving in the military to take effect immediately as a lawsuit contesting the prohibition proceeds.

“The authority of the U.S. military to determine who may serve in the nation’s armed forces is a matter of exceptional importance,” according to the 300-page petition, which seeks to overturn a preliminary court injunction protecting transgender troops from discharge as the case is litigated.

The petition asks the nation’s highest court to lift that injunction and allow the discharge of active-duty transgender troops to proceed, according to court documents.

“Joe Biden allowed trans insanity to run rampant in our military. President Trump restored lethality and readiness to our warfighters. The United States military is the greatest in the world, and President Trump is keeping it that way by focusing on elite readiness standards — not DEI or woke gender ideology,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said Friday in an emailed statement.

The Defense Department declined to comment and referred questions to the White House.

Talbott v. United States is a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that challenges the Pentagon policy against transgender troops — often referred to as the Hegseth Policy — as unconstitutional and discriminatory.

The lawsuit was filed in January 2025 in response to an executive order by President Donald Trump directing the Defense Department to bar transgender people from service.

A two-week trial is scheduled to start in January 2027.

“But the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to step in now – before trial – so it can begin discharging transgender service members immediately,” GLAD Law said in a statement on Friday.

GLAD Law and the National Center for LGBTQ Rights are nonprofit legal firms representing the plaintiffs in Talbott v. USA.

Various lower court rulings have temporarily blocked the removal of specific active-duty service members involved in different lawsuits challenging Trump’s executive order, attorneys said.

The lead plaintiff in this lawsuit is Army Reserve Second Lt. Nicolas Talbott, who has served as a platoon leader in a military police unit.

A total of 29 plaintiffs are represented in the case. They include active-duty service members, reservists, National Guard members and an individual seeking to enlist.

Attorneys say the case is now being fought on two fronts — as a petition before the Supreme Court and through ongoing motions, discovery and trial preparation in federal district court.

“The Trump administration is needlessly attempting to ram through policies that will cause irreparable harm to service members and their families. The court should deny this request,” said Shannon Minter, an attorney and legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights.