D.C. Circuit Blocks Trump’s Military Ban, Stopping the Discharge of Transgender Servicemembers

LGBTQ EqualityTrans RightsTalbott v. United States

Jun 2

On June 1, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a decision in Talbott v. United States upholding a preliminary injunction halting the discharge of transgender service members. The preliminary injunction was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes on March 18, 2025. In that forceful order, Judge Reyes held that the ban undermines national security and is likely unconstitutional, calling it “soaked with animus and dripping with pretext.”

However, Judge Reyes’s order was temporarily stayed by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit pending the outcome of the June 1 decision on the merits. As the result of the appeals court’s decision, the preliminary injunction will take effect — blocking the government from discharging the transgender servicemember plaintiffs in Talbott.

The decision affirms the District Court’s finding, concluding that: “this is not a case where we are left to speculate why the government drafted such broad undifferentiated classifications . . . we have direct evidence in this case that animus motivated the classifications in the Hegseth Policy.”

Wardenski P.C.’s co-counsel, National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR) Legal Director Shannon Minter argued before the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on January 22, 2026. At argument, Minter stated that the Trump administration’s Hegseth Policy sought an “unprecedented, chaotic mass discharge of thousands of qualified troops based on nothing more than disapproval of transgender people” and “attacks servicemembers who have deployed around the world in dangerous assignments in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and have received multiple awards for valor and performance.” He also noted that plaintiffs are “highly qualified and have met every standard, with deployments before, during, and after transition.”

On April 15, 2026, the Talbott plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification to ensure rulings against the transgender military ban will apply to all transgender servicemembers. A hearing on that motion is scheduled for June 30, 2026.

Talbott was the first legal challenge filed against President Trump’s transgender military ban in January 2025. Wardenski P.C. is proud to represent the Talbott plaintiffs with our co-counsel, LGBTQ+ legal groups  National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR) and GLAD Law , and the law firm Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein.