Overview
- Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao formed the 2–1 majority to stay Judge Ana C. Reyes’s nationwide injunction, with Judge Cornelia Pillard dissenting.
- The 2025 policy, implemented under Executive Order 14183, generally excludes people with a diagnosis, history, or symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria from service, with limited waiver options.
- The majority said the rule is likely constitutional, relying on Department of Defense analyses, a 2021 AMSARA study on elevated nondeployability, a 2025 literature review, and the Supreme Court’s Skrmetti decision treating such rules as medical classifications.
- Pillard argued the ban rests on hostility toward transgender identity rather than evidence of harm to readiness and warned of irreparable harm to qualified service members.
- The stay keeps the policy in force while appeals proceed, with oral argument set for January 22, 2026, and potential en banc or Supreme Court review as plaintiffs report disrupted care, stalled promotions, and possible separations.