US military to begin removing transgender soldiers
The United States military is expected to begin removing transgender service members from its ranks today.
Based on an executive order signed by President Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth set a June 6 deadline for transgender individuals to voluntarily leave active-duty military service. After today, the military will begin “involuntary separations” for those who have not left service voluntarily. Trump’s executive order has been challenged in the courts, but the Supreme Court has allowed enforcement of the order while legal challenges make their way through the courts.
Shilling v. United States and Talbott v. Trump, two cases challenging Trump’s executive order, are currently being litigated in circuit courts. The cases are likely to be heard by the Supreme Court, pending the appellate courts’ decisions. It is possible that the two cases would be grouped together due to their similarity. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson are expected to rule against the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order, while Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch are very likely to support the order’s constitutionality. While Justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett all lean conservative, they could rule against the order if the government fails to provide sufficient military justification, if concerns over equal protection prevail, or if there is clear evidence of anti-trans animus. In this case of such a decision, it is not clear what recourse the government would have to take to address the situations of transgender service members who will have been discharged.
