Karnoski v. Trump

Following an announcement on Twitter, President Donald J. Trump (defendant) issued a presidential memorandum directing the secretaries of defense and homeland security to reverse the military’s recent decision to allow transgender individuals to serve openly. The announcement directed the military to prohibit the ascension of openly transgender individuals and authorized the military to discharge openly transgender service members. Prior to the president’s memorandum, the military had conducted extensive research and concluded that allowing transgender individuals to serve openly would not have any negative impacts. In 2016 the secretary of defense had issued a memorandum allowing transgender individuals to serve openly in the military. Ryan Karnoski (plaintiff), along with several other transgender individuals hoping to pursue a military career and active members of the military serving openly as transgender individuals (collectively, the service members) (plaintiffs), filed suit in federal district court against President Trump, the secretary of defense, the United States, and the department of defense (collectively, the government) (defendants). The service members sought a preliminary injunction, contending that the directive violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, substantive due process, and the First Amendment. The government filed a motion to dismiss the service members’ complaint.