Federal Appeals Court Sides With Trump Administration On Transgender Military Ban

We’ve been following this fight for a year and half now.

As with the travel ban, the transgender military ban has been watered down after being blocked by several district court judges, but is working its way through the higher courts:

“WASHINGTON – A powerful federal appeals court in the nation’s capital sided with the Trump administration Friday on its military transgender ban, but other courts’ blockades of the policy remain in effect.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the partial ban announced by the Pentagon, but never implemented, should not have been blocked by a district court while it was being challenged.

The three judges on the panel were appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

In reversing one of four federal courts to have blocked the policy, the panel reasoned that it was not a “blanket ban” and had been fine-tuned by Pentagon officials over a period of months. Considerable deference is owed the executive branch on military decisions, it said. …

‘Mad Dog’ Mattis is gone.

This issue is presumably headed toward the Supreme Court which will decide the issue. It will be up to Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Roberts not to fold under media pressure.