Trump asks SCOTUS to let military transgender ban take effect

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to permit its enforcement of a ban on transgender military service members amid court proceedings over its legality.

Multiple federal judges blocked the ban this year after Trump signed an executive order in January asserting that "expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."

The Thursday request saw the Trump administration seek to enforce the ban while cases in Washington state and Washington, D.C., proceed, according to the Associated Press. Trump previously imposed restrictions on transgender military service in his first term.

The second-term executive order came as part of a planned reorientation of the military toward war fighting and away from the social initiatives of the Biden administration.