Third challenge filed to Trump’s order on transgender troops

Two transgender service members are suing the Trump administration over a pair of executive orders targeting transgender Americans and their implementation by the U.S. military.

The lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey by two transgender men — Master Sgt. Logan Ireland and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bear Bade — argues that President Trump’s executive orders proclaiming the government recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and barring trans people from serving openly in the military subject transgender service members “to unequal, harmful, and demeaning treatment.”

Ireland and Bade, represented by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, are also challenging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Air Force Secretary Gary Ashworth’s implementation of those orders.

Both Ireland and Bade are members of the U.S. Air Force with a combined 20 years of experience, according to court documents, and began their gender transitions more than a decade ago. They have each been placed on administrative absence and told they can only continue serving if they do so according to their birth sex.

“It is not possible, though, for either Plaintiff to serve as a woman because each one has medically transitioned to be and live as a man,” Monday’s lawsuit states. “And given the implementation timeline that the Trump Administration has publicized, both Plaintiffs reasonably fear that, as early as March 26, 2025, involuntary administrative separation proceedings will be initiated against them because of their transgender status.”

The Pentagon, in a Feb. 26 policy memo, directed military leaders to begin identifying transgender service members within 30 days and begin “separation actions” within 60 days.

The memo, like Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order on transgender troops, suggests a history of gender dysphoria — severe psychological distress that stems from a mismatch between a person’s gender identity and sex at birth — is incompatible with military service.

Military personnel diagnosed with gender dysphoria may be retained “on a case-by-case basis,” provided there is a compelling government interest in doing so, the memo said. But service members will have to prove they never took steps to transition genders and demonstrate 36 months of stability living in line with their birth sex “without clinically significant distress.”

Trump and administration officials have sought to equate trans identity with deception and cast transgender people in the armed forces as a threat to military readiness and unit cohesion. “A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” Trump’s executive order states.

A 2016 RAND Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon found that allowing trans individuals to serve had no negative impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness or readiness.

Monday’s lawsuit, the third to challenge Trump’s executive order on transgender troops and one of at least a dozen filed against his order on the government’s recognition of only two sexes, asks the court to block the administration from carrying out the directives.

“Simply put, Master Sergeant Ireland and Staff Sergeant Bade have a constitutional right not to be separated from military service based on their transgender status, a characteristic that has nothing to do with their fitness or ability to serve,” the lawsuit states.

Topics

I’m a transgender veteran. Trump’s military order is reckless and dangerous | Alleria Stanley

Trans people are twice as likely as US adults overall to serve in the armed forces. But we’re regularly told our careers and lives aren’t worth saving. Late last month, the Trump administration ...
The Guardian - Mar. 11
Judge to hear arguments on Pentagon's transgender service member ban

A group of service members are going to court to fight the Trump administration's new ban on transgender troops. CBS News senior national security correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports.
CBS News - 6d
Citing Trump’s Order, V.A. Halts Most Transgender Care

Veterans who wish to change their gender “can do so on their own dime,” the V.A. secretary said.
The New York Times - 15h
GOP lawmakers tackle challenge of turning Trump actions into laws

Republican lawmakers who are jubilant about President Trump’s flurry of executive orders and actions reshaping the government are staring down a challenge: making those changes last by turning them ...
The Hill - 2d
Justices to Consider Trump Request to Lift Nationwide Pause on Birthright Citizenship Order

The justices requested responses by early April from the states and groups who had challenged the executive order.
The New York Times - 3d
Law firm sues Trump administration after executive order targeting its attorneys

Perkins Coie has filed suit against the Trump administration over an executive order that targeted the firm for its work representing Clinton's 2016 campaign.
ABC News - 6d
Appeals court rules Trump can implement anti-DEI executive orders for now

The decision from the three-judge panel allows the orders to be enforced as a lawsuit challenging them plays out.
CBS News - 3d
VA halts gender-affirming care for transgender veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will no longer offer gender-affirming medical treatment to transgender former service members, the department announced Monday, citing an executive order ...
The Hill - 18h
A Cornell graduate student fearing deportation files a pre-emptive lawsuit.

A doctoral student from Gambia sued the Trump administration on First Amendment grounds over two Trump executive orders aimed at pro-Palestinian activism.
The New York Times - 1d
Putin demands Kursk total victory ahead of Moscow talks with Trump envoy

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a command center in Kursk on Wednesday, ordering troops there to "destroy" all Ukrainian formations.
ABC News - 5d
Texas bill would charge transgender people with 'fraud'

Transgender Texans could be charged with fraud under state legislation filed this month that seeks to make publicly identifying as trans illegal. House Bill 3817, introduced last week by ...
The Hill - 6d
Trump administration moves to reinstate 24,000 federal workers after judge's order

The Trump administration has taken steps to reinstate thousands of probationary workers who were fired in its effort to downsize the federal government, according to court filings in one of two ...
The Hill - 31m
Trump says he's asked Putin to spare Ukrainian troops' lives

President Trump said he strongly requested that Russian President Vladimir Putin spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers surrounded by Russian troops, in a statement posted to his social media site. ...
The Hill - 3d
Ukraine tries to bolster troops in Kursk as Putin's forces advance

Ukraine tries to reinforce troops in Russia's Kursk region as Putin's forces retake ground amid Trump's aid and intel pause.
CBS News - Mar. 10
Republican Refers to Sarah McBride, Transgender Congress Member, as a Man

Representative Keith Self of Texas insisted on calling Representative Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress, “Mr. McBride,” and adjourned the session when challenged about it.
The New York Times - 6d
Putin appears in Kursk, orders troops to expel Ukrainians

Yahoo News - 5d
Perkins Coie sues over Trump's order stripping security clearances

Law firm Perkins Coie has launched a suit to challenge President Trump’s stripping of security clearances for lawyers at the firm, saying it was targeted due to its past work for Democrats. Perkins ...
The Hill - 6d
Trump to release 80,000 pages of JFK files on Tuesday

President Trump announced he will release 80,000 pages of unredacted files Tuesday about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, after promising on the campaign trail to declassify the ...
The Hill - 17h
USDA suspends Maine university funding after Trump row over transgender athletes

The Department of Agriculture has suspended funding at the University of Maine after President Trump clashed with Gov. Janet Mills over transgender athletic participation.
NBC News - 6d
Trump Says He’ll Release JFK Assassination Files on Tuesday

Mr. Trump did not provide additional details on what the trove of files would include, but he has long promised to release them unredacted.
The New York Times - 13h
Government seeks to dismiss Mahmoud Khalil's challenge of detention

The U.S. government has filed a motion to dismiss Mahmoud Khalil's challenge in his deportation case based on jurisdiction issues argued in court. CBS News' Katrina Kaufman has more on the Columbia ...
CBS News - 4d
New Mahmoud Khalil complaint names Trump and Rubio, and alleges 'targeted, retaliatory detention'

Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil filed an amended petition and complaint Thursday that names President Donald Trump as a respondent as the Palestinian activist challenges his ...
NBC News - 3d
Starmer praised for statesman role abroad but can he show 'same mojo' at home?

The PM seizes the spotlight as Trump upends the world order - but he faces serious challenges in the UK.
BBC News - Mar. 8
Trump’s third-term tease is a lame-duck hedge

What do you figure the chances are that President Trump will try to seek a third term as president? Not the chances that he would win, or serve, or even get on ballots nationwide, but that he will ...
The Hill - 4h
Panama Will Release Migrants From Detention Camp, Challenging Trump’s Deportation Efforts

More than 100 people deported by the United States have been held in a remote camp for weeks. Their release could pose a challenge to President Trump’s deportation efforts.
The New York Times - Mar. 8
Judge blocks 'unlawful' Trump order targeting Clinton 2016 law firm

A federal judge entered an emergency order barring the Trump administration from implementing parts of its executive order targeting the law firm Perkins Coie.
ABC News - 5d
JFK assassination files to be released Tuesday, Trump says

Trump said about 80,000 pages of documents related to JFK's assassination will be released Tuesday.
CBS News - 15h
JFK assassination files to be released today, Trump says

Trump said about 80,000 pages of documents related to JFK's assassination will be released Tuesday.
CBS News - 2h
JFK assassination files to be released today, Trump says

Trump said about 80,000 pages of documents related to JFK's assassination will be released Tuesday.
CBS News - 2h
ACLU challenges White House claim it did not defy court order on Venezuelan migrants

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) questioned Monday whether the White House violated a court order directing it to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants. A federal judge in ...
The Hill - 1d
Appeals court reinstates portions of Trump’s DEI orders

A federal appeals court Friday reinstated portions of President Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs that were blocked by a lower court. The unanimous ...
The Hill - 3d
Hegseth orders review into military standards, including fitness and grooming

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in January to review "in a gender-neutral way" readiness standards for troops.
CBS News - 4d
Trump asks Supreme Court to intervene on blocks to his birthright citizenship order

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to significantly narrow nationwide injunctions blocking his order redefining birthright citizenship in the U.S.
ABC News - 3d
Federal judge orders Trump admin to reinstate thousands of probationary employees

A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of previously terminated probationary employees across 18 different agencies.
ABC News - 3d
Trump invokes wartime act, orders deportation of suspected Venezuelan gangs

President Trump's extraordinary order is breathtaking in its scope and has little precedent in U.S. history.
CBS News - 2d
Trump sends Iran a warning while ordering strikes against Houthis in Yemen

President Trump issued a new warning to Iran while ordering military strikes against Tehran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.
CBS News - 2d
Russia Pushes Back Ukraine’s Offensive With Drones and North Korean Troops

Russia has retaken about two-thirds of the territory Ukraine seized last summer in the Kursk region of Russia, but at a fearful cost in lives.
The New York Times - Mar. 8
Second federal judge orders White House to rehire fired probationary workers

The order from U.S. District Judge James Bredar came in a lawsuit filed by 19 states and the District of Columbia against multiple federal agencies alleging the mass firings are illegal.
CBS News - 4d
Trump to sign executive order limiting Public Service Loan Forgiveness program

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order excluding certain student loan borrowers from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
CNBC - Mar. 7