A US appeals court says President Donald Trump's administration can for now bar transgender people from enlisting in the military, but blocked the expulsion of current service members while a lawsuit plays out.
A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 ruling said the 2025 policy was unlawfully motivated "by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group."
But the Pentagon has broad powers to set enlistment standards, the court said, and can continue to ban transgender people from newly entering the military pending the outcome of a lawsuit by transgender current and would-be service members.
