Trump Asks Supreme Court to Intervene Ahead of Trial So the Pentagon Can Fire Transgender Troops

This story originally appeared on The Advocate.The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to clear the way for the Pentagon to fire decorated transgender troops who have so far beaten the government in court. The Department of Justice is asking the high court to intervene before a judge can hold a trial on whether the ban forcing them out is constitutional.In a Friday petition, the administration called the D.C. Circuit’s ruling in the Talbott litigation “gravely erroneous.” It argues that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s policy regulates gender dysphoria and related medical treatment, not transgender people, and therefore needs only a rational connection to military readiness to survive constitutional review.Related: Judge hints at federal class action, orders DOJ evidence in trans military ban caseThat description has failed to persuade two courts. In June, a divided D.C. Circuit panel preserved an injunction protecting the currently serving plaintiffs from discharge. Judges Robert Wilkins and Judith Rogers concluded that the plaintiffs were likely to win because the policy appeared rooted in hostility rather than military necessity. Wilkins wrote that it appeared driven by a “bare desire to harm” transgender people.U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes earlier called the ban “soaked in animus and dripping with pretext” and “a solution in search of a problem.” Reyes has since certified a class of transgender service members and prospective troops. A two-week trial is scheduled to begin on January 4.The Supreme Court has brushed against transgender military bans before, but it has never decided whether one is constitutional after a full trial. After Trump announced in 2017 that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve “in any capacity,” then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis replaced that declaration with a more detailed policy in 2018. The Mattis policy generally disqualified people with gender dysphoria who had transitio