The Department of Justice has filed a motion to dissolve the preliminary injunction that prevents the Pentagon from enforcing Trump’s ban against transgender individuals serving in the military.
The Pentagon announced on February 11 that it will no longer permit transgenders to join the military. This is in line with the executive order issued by President Donald Trump on January 27 declaring the United States recognizes only two sexes: male and female.
In a memo dated Feb. 26, the Pentagon instructed military leaders to identify transgender members of service within 30 days and to initiate “separation measures” within 60.
The administration claims that in its court filing on Friday, it is based upon the view of U.S. district judge Ana Reyes that “the Hegseth Policy” prohibits all transgender soldiers from serving.
The court document states, “That view is based, in part, on an interpretation, among others, of the following language of the DoD policy: Service members with a diagnosis, history, or symptoms consistent to gender dysphoria, are disqualified for military service. Defendants explained that the DoD Policy, which presumptively bars individuals from serving in military service, turns on gender dysphoria, a medical condition, and does not discriminate trans-identifying people as a group.”
Reyes, appointed by the former president Joe Biden to the bench, issued the preliminary order on Tuesday. He said that the ban on transgender service in the military likely violated the constitution’s prohibition against sexism.
Reyes wrote, “The military ban is filled with animus and pretext. Its language is demeaning and its policy stigmatizes the transgender as being inherently unfit. And its conclusions are utterly unfounded.”
The Trump administration has until Friday morning to appeal the judge’s decision.
The motion also argues that the administration informed the court by March 26th of the Department of Defense’s expected guidance.
The updated guidance was released by the department on Friday. It “confirms the phrase ‘exhibit a gender dysphoria,’ refers specifically to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.” It “applies to only those individuals who display symptoms that would be sufficient for a diagnosis” (i.e. a marked incongruence and a clinically significant impairment or distress lasting at least six months).
The new guidance confirms that Defendants have maintained that the DoD Policy focuses on the military readiness, deploymentability, and cost associated with an illness that has been kept out of military service by every previous Administration to some extent. Due to this confirmation and the other reasons stated by Defendants in their previous opposition, they ask the Court to dissolve its preliminary order.
The administration may ask the court to maintain the injunction pending an appeal if the court refuses to dissolve it.
