IRVINE, Calif. (November 20, 2025) — The Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, filed amicus briefs last week in three cases on appeal involving LGBTQ+ rights or executive overreach: Talbott v. USA (challenging the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military service), National TPS Alliance v. Noem (challenging the Trump administration’s early termination of temporary protected status for Venezuelans), and W.M.M. v. Trump (challenging President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act). The Korematsu Center is led by Executive Director Robert S. Chang and Director Shaleen Shanbhag.
The Korematsu Center, with support from Professor Rachel Croskery-Roberts, Professor Beatrice Tice, and pro bono students Olivia Mazzucato (’26) and Benjamin Strehlow (’27), filed an amicus brief in Talbott v. USA. The brief supports the Plaintiffs-Appellees who obtained a nationwide preliminary injunction halting enforcement of the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military service. Joined by the Japanese American Citizens League, the Center for Civil Rights and Critical Justice at Seattle University School of Law, the Center for Racial and Economic Justice at UC Law San Francisco, the Center on Law, Race & Policy at Duke University School of Law, and the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law, the brief draws from history to show what the nation loses when it excludes people, based on their identities, from serving in our nation’s military. Amici detail the nation’s history of banning Black people from service as early as the Revolutionary War, the exclusion of Japanese Americans from enlisting during World War II, the historic and recent efforts to exclude women from combat, and bans on open service by LGB servicemembers. The brief states: “[H]istory demonstrates that these exclusionary policies have never benefited the nation, the excluded communities, or the individuals directly affected. And all of these groups, when permitted to serve, proved invaluable to the nation’s war efforts.”
In the brief, amici also highlight the harms to individuals who are discharged or excluded from service based on identity: “Military service opens concrete pathways for individuals from all walks of life, materially equipping them with skills, credentials, networks, and benefits that translate into lifetime opportunity and public contribution. Foreclosing their ability to serve would impose dignitary and material harms: stripping equal membership, shutting leadership pipelines, slowing upward economic mobility, and erasing educational and professional ladders.” Amici urge the D.C. Circuit to view the current ban on transgender military service within the larger historical context of military exclusion based on stereotypes and affirm the preliminary injunction.
The Korematsu Center served as co-counsel in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, representing over 120 Congressmembers to support Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans. In the amicus brief, lawmakers urged the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the district court’s September 2025 ruling that the Trump administration’s decision to vacate and terminate Venezuela’s TPS designation was unlawful. The brief highlights the tradition of bipartisan support for TPS in Congress, saying: “the Secretary’s actions not only violate the TPS statute but also contradict the bipartisan opposition to terminating Venezuela TPS. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have long supported temporary protected status for Venezuelans who fled dangerous conditions in their country — conditions that persist today.”
W.M.M. v. Trump challenges President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act against Venezuelan nationals alleged to be members of the Tren de Aragua. The Korematsu Center, along with the Japanese Americans Citizens League and other Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations, filed an amicus brief before the en banc Fifth Circuit. The brief draws parallels between President Trump’s invocation of the Act to deport alleged gang members and President Roosevelt’s invocation of the Act to incarcerate Japanese Americans during World War II. Amici urge the Fifth Circuit to ensure robust judicial review of the executive branch and heed the lessons of WWII-era Japanese American incarceration and its devastating impact on Japanese American individuals, families, and communities.
About the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality
The Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at UC Irvine School of Law advances justice and equality through research, advocacy, and education. Named for civil rights icon Fred T. Korematsu, the Center works to address systemic discrimination and promote the civil and human rights of marginalized communities. Through litigation, amicus advocacy, and public engagement, the Korematsu Center continues Fred T. Korematsu’s legacy of challenging injustice and upholding constitutional protections for all.
Media Contact:
Shaleen Shanbhag
Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality
sshanbhag@law.uci.edu