A federal appeals court on Friday overturned a lower court’s ruling blocking President Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military from taking effect.
The ruling hands Trump a win in a case that has seen several courts block the policy. But the policy still cannot take effect because of those other injunctions, which applied nationwide.
“Although today’s decision is not a final determination on the merits, we must recognize that the Mattis Plan plausibly relies upon the ‘considered professional judgment’ of ‘appropriate military officials’ … and appears to permit some transgender individuals to serve in the military consistent with established military mental health, physical health, and sex-based standards,” wrote a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
View the complete January 4 article by Rebecca Kheel on The Hill website here.