A federal appeals court ruled on Monday against the Trump administration’s policy of barring transgender troops from the military, finding the policy was arbitrary and implemented with animus.A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found 2-1 that the Department of War’s January 2025 policy, which held that people with gender dysphoria are unfit to serve in the military, is unlawful. The panel’s ruling on the liberal-leaning court limited its scope to the current transgender-identifying service members who were part of the lawsuit, and the Trump administration’s policy is still in effect for transgender-identifying people not already in the military who are seeking to join.“In this litigation, the government has not attempted to defend or provide any factual basis for these disparaging characterizations of American citizens,” U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said in his ruling for the panel. “Indeed, the government has not contested that the Plaintiff-Appellees who are currently serving (and who have collectively earned more than 80 commendations) have served honorably and pose no threat to national security, even though they happen to be transgender and have suffered from gender dysphoria.”