Trump Administration Loses Another Ruling on Transgender Military Ban
Efforts by the Trump administration to implement
a ban on allowing transgender Americans to serve in the military continue
to be blocked after yet another court ruling against the policy on Friday.
A federal court in Seattle thwarted an administration
request for a stay of an earlier injunction that halted the ban while a
government appeal is heard.
Judge Marsha Pechman, who according to The Hill is one
of four federal judges to have issued a preliminary injunction against
Trump’s transgender military ban, issued the ruling Friday in the U.S. District
Court for the Western District of Washington. Last April, Pechman also ruled that
an injunction against the ban would remain in place while several lawsuits make
their way through courts.
“The status quo shall remain ‘steady as she goes,’ and the
preliminary injunction shall remain in full force and effect nationwide,” Pechman
wrote in her ruling, quoting Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson during
previous Senate testimony, The Hill reported.
“Today’s [Friday’s] ruling in the lawsuit
brought by Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN and joined by the State of
Washington denied the administration’s motion to stay the preliminary
injunction the court had granted in December 2017, blocking implementation of
the ban and enabling transgender people
to enlist in the military for the first time starting January 1, 2018,” Lambda Legal’s Jonathan Adams wrote.
“You would think the administration would get tired of all
the losing, and more importantly, would read the writing on the wall and
abandon this discriminatory and harmful scheme to prevent brave and qualified
transgender people from serving their country,” Lambda Legal Senior Attorney
Peter Renn said.
Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN are representing nine plaintiffs,
six who currently serve in the military, in a lawsuit that is expected to go to
trial next April, according to Adams.
In the latest ruling, Penchman said the Trump administration
had made no new arguments she hadn’t already rejected. Imagine that.