A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has ruled that the Trump administration’s ban on active-duty trans-identified troops in the US military is unconstitutional. The court issued a split 2-1 ruling.  

The ruling, written by Obama-appointed Judge Robert Wilkins, stated that the ban “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender,” per CBS News. The majority of Judges Judith Rogers and Robert Wilkins agreed that the policy was likely unconstitutional.  

They left in place a preliminary injunction that prevents the Department of War from removing transgender troops who are in the military. The order only covers active-duty plaintiffs in the case. 

“The government’s stated reason for issuing the Hegseth Policy as based solely upon gender dysphoria was pretextual, and that instead, the Hegseth Policy was premised, at least in part, on a non-legitimate state interest to harm the politically unpopular group of transgender persons,” Wilkins wrote in the ruling, adding that President Trump “declared transgender people as categorically unfit for military service explicitly because of their gender identity.”

The decision, however, allows for the administration to enforce restrictions for people who have sought to join the military and are transgender.  

During his first days in office, Trump signed an executive order to pause the new recruitment of people who have a history of gender dysphoria and have had sex change procedures. The policy, which was carried out by Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth, had several legal challenges launched in response. 

The lawsuit in the DC court was brough by around a dozen trans-identified troops who were active duty. They argued that the policy was discriminatory based on their transgender identity.