It looks it will be left to the Supreme Court to decide whether to uphold President Trump's ban on transgender individuals serving in the military.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration's appeal of an injunction against its ban on transgender individuals in the military imposed by a lower court. The administration had requested the Ninth Circuit review — and potentially overturn — the injunction, but its request was denied.
The three judge panel ruled that they could not let the Trump administration lift the injunction while the ban remains under dispute because it would impede upon the "ordinary processes of administration and judicial review," which would then "upend, rather than preserve, the status quo."
The finalized version of the ban on transgenders disqualifies from service "transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria," and specifically those who “may require substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery,†except in “certain limited circumstances." The ban was also crafted after "extensive study by senior uniformed and civilian leaders, including combat veterans."
Defense Secretary James Mattis has said he is "prepared to defend" the ban, concluding that troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria carry "impacts of healthcare costs, readiness, and unit cohesion,†and as such present “considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality."
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman levied the injunction. Peschman has said that "transgender people have long been subjected to systemic oppression and forced to live in silence, they are a protected class. Therefore, any attempt to exclude them from military service will be looked at with the highest level of care."
The ban likely will not be adjudicated until April 2019.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/33288/9th-circuit-court-blocks-trumps-transgender-paul-bois
