Trump transgender troop limits can take effect, top court decides
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed President Donald Trump a victory on his policy barring many transgender people from the military, lifting lower court rulings that had blocked it on constitutional grounds from going into effect.
The decision, with the court's five conservative justices prevailing over its four liberals, granted the Trump administration's request to put on hold injunctions issued by federal judges against enforcement of the policy while a challenge to its legality continues in lower courts.
The court did not resolve the underlying question of the legality of the Republican president's plan, which reversed the landmark 2016 policy of his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama to let transgender people for the first time serve openly in the armed forces and receive medical care to transition genders.
A person holds up a sign during a rally to protest the Trump administration's reported transgender proposal to narrow the definition of gender to male or female at birth, at City Hall in New York City, U.S., October 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

A person holds up a sign during a rally to protest the Trump administration's reported transgender proposal to narrow the definition of gender to male or female at birth, at City Hall in New York City, U.S., October 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

But in lifting the injunctions, the court signaled it likely would decide in favor on the administration when it eventually is asked to rule on the merits of the challenge brought by transgender people already in the military or hoping to join. The plaintiffs argued that the policy violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
The justices declined the administration's request to immediately take up the fight over the policy's legality even before a California-based federal appeals court that often has been criticized by Trump rules on the matter.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs condemned the court's action and said some current troops could face discharge. Various injunctions had allowed new transgender troops to join the military as of January 1, 2018, in addition to the estimated thousands already serving. 
"For more than 30 months, transgender troops have been serving our country openly with valor and distinction, but now the rug has been ripped out from under them, once again,” said Peter Renn, an attorney for Lambda Legal, which represents some of the plaintiffs.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said Trump's “ban on trans Americans serving in our nation's military was purpose-built to humiliate brave men & women seeking to serve their country.”
Trump, whose administration also has taken other steps to limit the rights of transgender Americans, in 2017 announced a plan to ban transgender people from the military. Trump cited the “tremendous medical costs and disruption” of having transgender troops.
In March 2018, Trump backed a revised policy crafted by then-defense secretary James Mattis to ban transgender people who seek or have undergone gender transition steps. It also would ban under certain circumstances transgender people who experience gender dysphoria, a condition the American Psychiatric Association defines as clinically significant distress due to “a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender” and the individual's gender identity.
Source(s): Reuters