Last week, the Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court to review Talbott v. USA, the lawsuit challenging its ban on military service by transgender people. The administration is seeking to overturn a preliminary injunction that protects currently serving transgender plaintiffs in Talbott from being discharged while the case is litigated. Trial is scheduled to begin in the federal district court for the District of Columbia in January 2027.
Says Jennifer Levi, GLAD Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights, “We are confident the Supreme Court will affirm that the Trump administration cannot base policies on hostility toward a group of people. As the Trump administration’s own attorneys admitted, these are qualified individuals who are meeting all military standards. There is no reason to waste millions of taxpayer dollars to kick out thousands of highly trained, skilled, and decorated troops based on nothing but hostility and this administration’s political whims.”
Says Shannon Minter, National Center for LGBTQ Rights Legal Director, “The Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to rush in and bless the expulsion of proven, decorated soldiers before a single court has issued a final judgment. There is no circuit split, no emergency, and no merit – only a policy that multiple courts have now found was driven by prejudice rather than military need. The Trump administration is needlessly attempting to ram through policies that will cause irreparable harm to servicemembers and their families. The Court should deny this request.”
—from a GLAD Law press release