The Trump administration scored another appellate-level win on Tuesday as the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the administration's request for a stay pending appeal of a lower court injunction barring the Trump administration's new rules on transgender individuals serving in the armed forces.
This case got a lot of attention earlier in the year, as the D.C. District Court Judge presiding over it, Ana Reyes, appeared to get out over her skis on the issue.
Radical Judge Blocks Trump Admin's Military Transgender Ban - but There's a Problem
The administration appealed after Reyes issued the preliminary injunction and sought both an administrative stay of Reyes' order as well as a stay pending appeal. The D.C. Circuit granted an administrative stay almost immediately and heard oral argument on the stay in April, but since then, there haven't been many notable developments on the case — until Tuesday.
In a somewhat familiar 2-1 configuration, Judges Gregory Katsas (Trump) and Neomi Rao (Trump) agreed that a stay pending appeal was warranted, while Judge Cornelia Pillard (Obama) dissented.
Technically, the decision is per curiam ("by the court" — i.e., unsigned), but Katsas authored a concurring statement (in which Rao joined), while Pillard authored a dissenting statement.
In finding a stay pending appeal appropriate, Katsas explained:
The United States military enforces strict medical standards to ensure that only physically and mentally fit individuals join its ranks. For decades, these requirements barred service by individuals with gender dysphoria, a medical condition associated with clinically significant distress. This bar was partially relaxed in 2016, revived in 2018, partially relaxed again in 2021, and revived again in 2025. District courts preliminarily enjoined the 2018 revival as a likely violation of equal-protection principles, but this Court vacated one of those injunctions, and the Supreme Court stayed two others. This case presents equal-protection challenges to the 2025 revival.
The 2025 policy generally bars individuals with gender dysphoria from serving in the Armed Forces. The Secretary of Defense concluded that this policy would advance important military interests of combat readiness, unit cohesion, and cost control. In doing so, he consulted materials compiled to assess the 2016 and 2018 policy changes, as well as more recent studies regarding the impacts of gender dysphoria on those with the condition and on their military service. The district court nonetheless preliminarily enjoined the 2025 policy based on its own contrary assessment of the evidence.
In our view, the court afforded insufficient deference to the Secretary’s considered judgment. Accordingly, we stay the preliminary injunction pending the government’s appeal.
ALSO SEE: Hegseth Goes to Full Speed Ahead in Discharging Transgender Servicemembers
Katsas' concurring statement, while relatively brief (roughly 23 pages), spells out the basis for the stay fairly thoroughly. As he notes how the factors courts are to consider in determining whether a stay is appropriate weigh in favor of a stay here, he makes this critical point:
We can imagine few if any government interests more compelling than a strong and ready military. And while the district court concluded that allowing gender-dysphoric individuals to serve in the military would advance the cause of military strength and readiness, the Constitution assigns that assessment to the political branches, as cases like Goldberg and Goldman make clear.
This highlights an issue we've seen rear its head repeatedly over the past 11 months: the seeming inability by some in the judiciary to reconcile the fact that, under our Constitution, it is the political branches — i.e., the ones directly responsive to the electorate — that get to make these types of decisions. Not the courts. For good reason.
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