Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday indicated that he is willing to take a federal appeals court decision restricting his transgender military ban to the Supreme Court.
Earlier in the day, a divided federal appeals court panel ruled that the Trump administration, under a policy implemented by Hegseth last year, is unconstitutionally expelling troops actively serving because they are transgender. The panel, though, allowed the Pentagon to enforce its ban against transgender individuals seeking to enlist.
“See you at SCOTUS,” Hegseth wrote on the social platform X, responding to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin’s post on the ruling.
In Monday’s 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia voted that Hegseth’s order to expel transgender service members from the armed forces was motivated by animus against them, and therefore constituted a violation of their constitutional rights.
U.S. Circuit judges Judith Rogers and Robert Wilkins, who were appointed by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, respectively, were in the majority. U.S. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, whom President Trump nominated to the federal appeals court in 2020, voted to let the administration fully enforce its ban.
Earlier in the day, a divided federal appeals court panel ruled that the Trump administration, under a policy implemented by Hegseth last year, is unconstitutionally expelling troops actively serving because they are transgender. The panel, though, allowed the Pentagon to enforce its ban against transgender individuals seeking to enlist.
“See you at SCOTUS,” Hegseth wrote on the social platform X, responding to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin’s post on the ruling.
In Monday’s 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia voted that Hegseth’s order to expel transgender service members from the armed forces was motivated by animus against them, and therefore constituted a violation of their constitutional rights.
U.S. Circuit judges Judith Rogers and Robert Wilkins, who were appointed by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, respectively, were in the majority. U.S. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, whom President Trump nominated to the federal appeals court in 2020, voted to let the administration fully enforce its ban.
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