Transgender troops can remain in US military, but enlistment can be blocked, court rules
Split decision deals blow to Trump administration’s anti-diversity agenda, calling the ban ‘arbitrary, and based on animus’

Transgender troops can remain in the US military, but the armed services can continue to block their enlistment, an appeals court ruled on Monday in a split decision with potentially significant consequences for the Trump administration’s anti-diversity agenda.

The divided, majority opinion by a three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for Washington DC is expected to be challenged by the government. And the case is ultimately likely to reach the US supreme court.

The ruling was held from going into immediate effect, allowing the administration time to ask the full appeals court to hear the case.

But it represents a blunt rebuke of the US defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s implementation of Donald Trump’s January 2025 presidential order mandating the removal of hundreds of transgender service members.

Such banning of transgender people from the military is illegal and “both arbitrary, and based on animus”, Robert Wilkins, a circuit judge, wrote in the majority opinion.

Monday’s decision mostly upholds a preliminary injunction issued by Ana Reyes, a district court judge, in March 2025 preventing the dismissal of six active-duty transgender people who are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

At the time, Reyes wrote: “The court knows that this opinion will lead to heated public debate and appeals. In a healthy democracy, both are positive outcomes.

“We should all agree, however, that every person who has answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect.”

President Donald Trump will headline the opening ceremony for the Great American State Fair after several artists pulled out of the National Mall event.

Freedom 250, the organization behind the 16-day celebration tied to America’s 250th birthday, told ABC News on Saturday that Trump will personally kick off the event June 24 in Washington, D.C., after numerous artists including Martina McBride and Bret Michaels said they were misled about its political ties. The announcement came after Trump said on social media that he would hold a rally “to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate ‘Artists.'"

The fair is scheduled to run June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall. It has been promoted as a national celebration with concerts, state exhibits and patriotic programming, but the entertainment lineup has been shaken by a wave of withdrawals from performers who said they believed they had agreed to take part in a nonpartisan event.

McBride, Michaels, Young MC, Morris Day and The Time, and The Commodores were all announced as part of the event before saying they would no longer perform. Several of them said they were not properly informed about the event’s political nature.