DC Circuit blocks Hegseth's transgender troop expulsions

On June 2, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 in Talbott v. United States, No. 25-5087, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth''s policy banning transgender military service is unconstitutional as applied to currently serving troops. The majority found the ban driven by animus toward transgender people, violating the Fifth Amendment''s equal protectionEqual ProtectionConstitutional requirement that states treat all people equally under law, with scrutiny depending on who the law affects.Key ConceptEqual ProtectionConstitutional requirement that states treat all people equally under law, with scrutiny depending on who the law affects.Open conceptBookmark clause.

The ruling doesn''t end the ban outright. It blocks only the expulsion of active-duty transgender service members who are plaintiffs in the case, while leaving in place the administration''s restriction barring transgender people from new enlistment.

Congress passed the ''Don''t Ask, Don''t Tell'' law in November 1993 under President Clinton — not as a liberal compromise but as a conservative backstop. Clinton had promised on the campaign trail to lift the existing ban on gay service members by executive order on his first day in office. When he tried, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA), then chairman of the Armed Services Committee, threatened to pass legislation codifying the ban into statute. The resulting DADT law — passed with 84 Senate votes — prohibited service members from disclosing their sexual orientation and barred commanders from investigating it. Transgender identity wasn''t addressed by the law at all; the informal Pentagon policy simply excluded it.

DATT was repealed in September 2011 under President Obama after Congress passed the Don''t Ask, Don''t Tell Repeal Act in December 2010 with 65 Senate votes. The repeal left transgender service members in a legal gray zone: openly gay troops could now serve, but the Pentagon had no formal policy on transgender service.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter formally opened military service to transgender Americans on June 30, 2016, following a year-long review. Carter''s directive required the services to cover transition-related medical care and gave each branch one year to develop implementation plans. The 2016 RAND Corporation study commissioned by the Pentagon found annual transition-related healthcare costs would range from $2.4 million to $8.4 million — less than one-tenth of one percent of the military''s $6.3 billion annual healthcare budget. For comparison, the Pentagon spends an estimated $84 million per year on erectile dysfunction medications. RAND found no degradation of readiness or unit cohesion in the 18 foreign militaries that allowed transgender service.

Trump announced the reversal of Carter''s policy in three tweets sent between 8:55 and 9:04 a.m. on July 26, 2017, catching Pentagon leadership off guard — the Joint Chiefs had not been consulted and had no implementing guidance. The tweets stated that ''the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.'' The White House eventually formalized the ban through a presidential memorandum, but litigation froze implementation in multiple federal circuits. Four courts issued injunctions blocking enforcement before the Supreme Court permitted enforcement via a 5-4 stay in January 2019.

Judge Robert Wilkins, appointed by President Barack Obama, wrote the 107-page majority opinion. He found the Hegseth Policy disqualifies anyone ever diagnosed with gender dysphoria — regardless of whether they currently experience it or whether it affects their performance — a classification divorced from any factual context that serves no legitimate military purpose.

Judge Judith Rogers, appointed by President Bill Clinton, joined the majority. Trump appointee Judge Justin Walker dissented, arguing federal courts have ''neither the expertise nor the authority'' to decide whether the military can exclude the plaintiffs.

The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates approximately 15,500 transgender people serve across active duty (roughly 8,800), the National Guard, and Reserves (roughly 6,700) — more than the entire active-duty Marine Corps infantry. The same institute found that transgender veterans experience suicidal ideation at twice the rate of cisgender veterans, a disparity researchers link to service-related trauma compounded by discrimination and policy uncertainty. The 14 active-duty plaintiffs in Talbott v. United States have served a combined 130 years and earned more than 80 commendations, including a Bronze Star and two Global War on Terrorism Service Medals. The Trump administration didn''t contest a single plaintiff''s performance record.

Judge Wilkins applied the constitutional animus doctrineAnimus DoctrineCourts have found that government policies motivated by hostility toward a group — rather than by legitimate governmental interests — cannot survive constitutional review.Key ConceptAnimus DoctrineCourts have found that government policies motivated by hostility toward a group — rather than by legitimate governmental interests — cannot survive constitutional review.Open conceptBookmark established in Romer v. Evans (1996) and reinforced in United States v. Windsor (2013). Under that framework, a law driven by bare hostility toward a politically unpopular group fails equal protection review even under rational basis — the lowest tier of constitutional scrutiny. Wilkins wrote the court had ''direct evidence'' that animus motivated the Hegseth Policy, citing Trump''s public statements labeling transgender people as ''dishonorable, undisciplined, arrogant, selfish liars.''

The 107-page opinion quoted those statements at length to document that the policy''s classifications are ''inexplicable by anything but animus'' — the same analytical phrase the Supreme Court used in Romer to strike down a Colorado ballot measure targeting gay residents.

Pete Hegseth was confirmed as Secretary of Defense on January 24, 2025, in a 51-50 Senate vote that required Vice President JD Vance to cast the tiebreaking ballot. Three Republicans — Senators Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins — joined all 47 Democrats in voting no.

Hegseth issued the transgender ban policy implementing Trump''s January 27, 2025 executive order, which declared transgender identity ''conflicts with a soldier''s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.'' That language appeared verbatim in the majority opinion as evidence of animus.

Judge Walker''s dissent invoked Orloff v. Willoughby (1953), in which the Supreme Court wrote that ''judges are not given the task of running the Army.'' Walker argued that Congress and the Commander in ChiefCommander in ChiefThe President's role as the highest-ranking military officer, making the President a civilian authority over the armed forces.Key ConceptCommander in ChiefThe President's role as the highest-ranking military officer, making the President a civilian authority over the armed forces.Open conceptBookmark — not federal courts — hold constitutional authority over military composition, and that the majority''s intervention set a precedent the D.C. Circuit had never before assumed.

Walker wrote: ''We have neither the expertise nor the authority to decide whether the military can exclude the plaintiffs from its ranks.'' His dissent frames the case as a separation-of-powers question rather than a civil rights question — the argument the Trump administration will likely press at the Supreme Court.

Hegseth posted on social media after the ruling: ''See you at SCOTUS.'' The Supreme Court''s current composition — six conservative justices, three liberal — gives the administration reason for optimism on appeal, particularly given the Court''s 2019 stay and its general pattern of deference to executive authority over military affairs.

However, the Court''s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County held 6-3 that discrimination against transgender employees constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII. Two of those six majority justices — Gorsuch and Roberts — remain on the Court. Whether Bostock''s reasoning travels from employment law to military service is a central question the Court would have to confront.

The ruling splits the ban in two: currently serving transgender troops who are plaintiffs keep their jobs and can''t be expelled, while the Pentagon can continue barring new transgender recruits from enlisting. This creates a two-tier system within the military — existing transgender service members protected by court order, new recruits barred by executive policy — that will likely persist until the Supreme Court resolves the constitutional question.