Supreme Court OK Transgender Ban

Tuesday the Supreme Court officially ruled that the Trump Administration could ban transgender troops serving in the military by a 6-3 vote split along party/ideological lines.

The court granted the Justice Department’s request to lift a federal judge’s nationwide order blocking the military from carrying out Trump’s prohibition on transgender servicemembers.

The court’s brief order was unsigned, as is typical in emergency matters that come before it. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its three liberal justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – publicly dissented from the decision.

A Seattle U.S. District  judge, Benjamin Settle, had previously ruled that the ban violated transgender folks’ right to equal protection under the law and stayed it.

LGBT rights groups Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign Foundation, which are helping represent plaintiffs challenging the ban, called the Supreme Court’s decision a “devastating blow to transgender servicemembers who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense.”

Note that while they ruled on the ban, the Supremes (as they so often do) did not rule on the underlying merits of the case. Expect to see more lower-court drama in the future. For example:

The litigation will continue in lower courts and could return to the justices in the future. In a separate case, Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes also had issued a nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s ban while that litigation proceeds. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit placed that injunction temporarily on hold.

“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” Trump’s directive stated.

Not a legal basis for the military to hang its hat on, but the medical needs of a transitioning transgender for surgery,hormones and other treatments is certainly relevant – the military typically does not admit diabetics, those needing dialysis, and a slew of other high-maintenance conditions which are arguably similar.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had declined the administration’s request to put Settle’s order on hold.  Reuters

Contrary to popular Internet beliefs, the 9th is not the most reversed District Court – but it certainly seems to have aspirations along those lines.

Category: Diversity, Get woke