D.C. Circuit Finds ‘Animus’ in Hegseth Policy Implementing Trump’s Military Transgender Ban

The three-judge panel lets the Pentagon bar transgender people from enlisting while the case continues.

Demonstrators gather in Times Square outside the U.S. Army Recruiting Center in July 2017 to protest President Trump tweeting that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve in the military. Photo: Jere Keys

A divided federal appeals court in Washington upheld a lower court order Monday that stops the Pentagon from expelling the transgender plaintiffs on active duty. But the three-judge panel allowed the military to bar most transgender people from enlisting while the case continues.

In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s directives as “soaked in animus and dripping with pretext,” citing a lower court ruling in the case, Talbott v. United States.