最高法院就阻止初步禁令保护和批准实施特朗普跨性别军人禁令一案发布裁决

Ruling paves the way for a purge of highly qualified transgender service members

The Supreme Court of the United States today granted the Trump administration’s April 24 motion for an emergency stay in United States v. Shilling. This motion asked the Supreme Court to block a preliminary injunction preventing the ban from being implemented while the case is being heard in the courts,  following the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ April 18 decision to reject the Trump administration’s motion to stay and uphold the preliminary injunction.

The lead attorneys in the first two transgender military ban cases to be heard in federal court, 塔尔博特诉特朗普案 和 Ireland v. Hegseth, GLAD Law 跨性别者和酷儿权利高级总监 詹妮弗·莱维 和 NCLR法律总监 香农·明特, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the United States and responded to today’s decision:

“The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the military ban to go into effect is devastating for the thousands of qualified transgender servicemembers who have met the standards and are serving honorably, putting their lives on the line for their country every single day,” said GLAD Law 跨性别者和酷儿权利高级总监 Jennifer Levi. “Today’s decision only adds to the chaos and destruction caused by this administration. It’s not the end of the case, but the havoc it will wreak is devastating and irreparable. History will confirm the weight of the injustice done today.”

“The Court has upended the lives of thousands of servicemembers without even the decency of explaining why,” said NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter. “As a result of this decision, reached without benefit of full briefing or argument, brave troops who have dedicated their lives to the service of our country will be targeted and forced into harsh administrative separation process usually reserved for misconduct. They have proven themselves time and time again and met the same standards as every other soldier, deploying in critical positions around the globe. This is a deeply sad day for our country.”

U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Hale Settle’s issuance of a preliminary injunction 在 先令 followed an earlier ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes in 塔尔博特诉特朗普案, where Judge Reyes issued the first nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the ban. In a forceful order in which Judge Reyes held that the ban undermines national security and is likely unconstitutional she called it “soaked with animus and dripping with pretext.”

Additionally, U.S. District Court Judge Christine P. O’Hearn issued a temporary restraining order in Ireland v. Hegseth, blocking the initiation of involuntary separation proceedings against plaintiffs Master Sergeant Logan Ireland and Staff Sergeant Nicholas Bear Bade—noting their “exemplary records” and deployments that included Afghanistan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. 

Department of Defense implementation of the ban to identify and separate transgender servicemembers had been slated to begin on March 28, a rapid timeframe former military leaders characterized as “rushed” and “alarming,” noting that the complexity of the military personnel system requires “months of careful planning and timelines.”

The preliminary injunctions in place had protected transgender servicemembers and recruits from significant harms by preventing the Department of Defense from initiating separation proceedings or otherwise enforcing the ban. These harms included servicemembers being removed from deployments, denied commissions and promotions, placed on administrative leave, denied medically needed care, and ultimately being placed in involuntary separation proceedings, a process used to address instances of misconduct.

塔尔博特诉特朗普案, the first legal challenge filed against President Trump’s transgender military ban executive order, is on behalf of 32 plaintiffs and brought by LGBTQ+ legal groups GLAD Law and NCLR with pro bono legal counsel from Wardenski P.C. and Kropf Moseley PLCC.

Ireland v. Hegseth was filed by GLAD Law, NCLR, and Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC and Langer Grogan & Diver P.C. in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey seeking immediate court action to prevent two longstanding, high-ranking Air Force servicemembers from being discharged from the military.GLAD Law’s Jennifer Levi and NCLR’s Shannon Minter, the lead attorneys in 塔尔博特 和 Ireland，本身也是跨性别者，并且各自拥有超过三十年处理具有里程碑意义和关键意义的LGBTQ+案件的诉讼经验。2017年，莱维和明特共同领导了一场反对美国跨性别者参军禁令的法律斗争。 多伊诉特朗普案 和 斯托克曼诉特朗普案该公司还获得了全国范围内的初步禁令，以阻止该禁令的实施。

Learn more about GLAD Law and NCLR’s case, 塔尔博特诉美国案.