President Donald Trump hasn’t gotten many court victories at this point early in his second term, but he managed a pretty monumental Supreme Court victory on Tuesday. Turns out only the high court’s liberals believe that the president, as commander-in-chief, has no authority to regulate how the military is run.
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration may immediately begin enforcing its ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, CNN reported. The decision marks a significant victory for President Donald Trump as he seeks to advance key parts of his second-term agenda that have been stalled by lower court challenges. As is typical in emergency rulings, the Court did not provide an explanation for its decision.
The three liberal justices dissented but did not issue a written opinion outlining their objections. During Trump’s first term, the Supreme Court allowed a similar, though slightly less restrictive, ban to take effect. That policy was later reversed by President Joe Biden. Under the newly implemented ban, “service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service,” according to a policy memo. Furthermore, the Pentagon will ban transgender individuals from enlisting in any branch of the U.S. military.
CNN added:
A senior defense official previously told CNN there are 4,240 service members across active-duty, reserve and the National Guard with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, defined as the psychological distress an individual feels when their gender identity differs from their gender at birth. But not every transgender individual has gender dysphoria.
Days after taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to implement its own policies that say transgender service members are incompatible with military service. The government had argued that continuing to permit trans individuals to serve in the US would negatively affect, among other things, the military’s lethality, readiness and cohesion.
No doubt the Potty Mouth Party will howl about how “unfair” and “bigoted” this policy is and the ruling upholding it. But the fact is, it’s a privilege to serve in the military, not a right, and others with psychological problems — and ‘gender dysphoria’ is psychological, if not also physical — are not permitted to serve in the military. Neither are others with health problems like heart disease, diabetes, kidney impairments and other debilitating diseases.
The President, as Commander-in-Chief, is in charge of the military and military policies, per the Constitution. The real shame here is that three of the Supreme Court’s justices don’t believe that.