Supreme Court allows military to ban transgender troops -

A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender troops from the military.

The justices granted the Trump administration’s request to lift a lower-court ruling that put the policy on hold nationwide while litigation over its constitutionality continues.

As often happens with emergency requests, the majority did not explain its reasoning. The court’s three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — said they would have denied the administration’s request.

Trump issued the order to remove transgender troops from the ranks soon after taking office in January. The order, one of a series of moves by the administration aimed at rolling back protections for transgender and LGBTQ+ people, says transgender identity is a “falsehood” that does not comport with the “humility and selflessness required of a service member.”