The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court for permission to enforce its ban on transgender people serving in the military, calling it “a matter of exceptional importance.”

Federal trial court judges in Washington state and Washington, D.C., have issued preliminary rulings against the policy, which was implemented under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed majority lifted the injunction in Washington state last year, and that case is currently being litigated further in the West Coast-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

The new Supreme Court petition involves the D.C. case, in which a divided federal appeals court upheld the injunction for people already serving in the military. The administration called that a “gravely erroneous holding” that warrants high court review.

“The authority of the U.S. military to determine who may serve in the Nation’s armed forces is a matter of exceptional importance,” the DOJ said in the petition, urging the court to “take this opportunity to address the constitutionality of the Hegseth policy and reverse the decision below, whose reasoning cannot be squared with this Court’s precedents or deference to the military.”

Contesting the lower court determination that the policy likely violates equal protection, the administration said it doesn’t unlawfully discriminate but rather “draws classifications based on a medical condition (gender dysphoria) and related interventions.”

It takes four justices to grant review of a petition. Service members will have a chance to oppose review before the justices decide whether to grant it. Petitions are filed year-round, but the justices are currently on a summer recess and are set to return to the bench in early October. We could learn in the fall whether they will agree to review the case, though they aren’t on a deadline to decide. If the court grants review by wintertime, then it could decide the case this coming term, with a ruling expected by July 2027. A decision to grant review does not necessarily dictate how the court will ultimately rule in a case.

Lawyers for the transgender rights side called the government petition both procedurally and substantively improper. National Center for LGBTQ Rights Legal Director Shannon Minter said the administration “wants the Supreme Court to rush in and bless the expulsion of proven, decorated soldiers before a single court has issued a final judgment.” Jennifer Levi, GLAD Law’s senior director of transgender and queer rights, said, “We are confident the Supreme Court will affirm that the Trump administration cannot base policies on hostility toward a group of people.”

The petition comes to the high court after its June ruling approving state bans on transgender women and girls in their chosen sports, which followed the court’s GOP-appointed majority upholding a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and siding with California parents on school policies that sought to prevent outing transgender students.

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