Trump administration can enforce transgender military ban, Supreme Court says

• The court's three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented.

Context: Trump signed an executive order in January stating that the federal government will only recognize male and female as sexes. He also revoked an executive order from former President Biden that allowed trans people to serve openly.

• Trump called on the Pentagon to formulate a policy that would target transgender service members.
• A federal judge in March said the restrictions were a violation of transgender people's constitutional rights and blocked the administration's efforts.

Flashback: Trump also banned military service by transgender people during his first administration, affecting up to 15,000 service members.

• In January 2019, the Supreme Court let this ban proceed in a 5-4 vote before Biden later repealed it by executive order.

Catch up quick: The individual plaintiffs in the case are seven current transgender service members and one transgender person who would like to join the military, per SCOTUSblog.

• Trump's executive order targets people with "gender dysphoria," saying that they can't reach the military's medical and mental standards.

By the numbers: Between May 2016 and May 2021, the Department of Defense provided gender-affirming care to 1,892 active duty service members, per the Congressional Research Service.

• Major medical organizations consider gender-affirming care to be medically necessary and lifesaving.

Zoom out: The Trump administration has repeatedly attacked the rights of transgender people in its policies.

• In addition to trans service members, Trump has threatened trans youth, trans athletes and gender affirming care.

Go deeper: U.S. moves to remove transgender troops from military, Pentagon memo shows

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details throughout.