Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Implement Transgender Restrictions in Military
Justices split along ideological lines; litigation continues in lower courts
Brent KendallUpdated Jan. 22, 2019 10:56 a.m. ET
Protestors gathered in New York in July 2017 after President Trump declared a ban on transgender troops in the military. Photo: Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
By
Brent Kendall
WASHINGTON—A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to allow the Trump administration to implement for now its planned restrictions on service in the military by transgender individuals.
The high court issued stay orders that block the effect of multiple lower court rulings that prevented the administration from implementing the transgender restrictions, on the grounds that they were likely unconstitutional.
The court orders split the justices along ideological lines, with the court’s five conservatives in the majority and the court’s four liberals in dissent.
The Supreme Court action, however, isn’t a ruling on the merits of the issue, and litigation is continuing in lower courts. The justices declined to take up full consideration of the case right now while those lower-court proceedings continue.
The legal dispute about transgender military service began after Mr. Trump announced his administration was reversing the Obama administration’s policy of accepting transgender recruits. The president made the announcement on Twitter in July 2017, and then followed it a month later with a memorandum ordering the military to return to the pre-Obama approach, citing a need to ensure military effectiveness and avoid disruptions.
Judges said Mr. Trump’s restrictions appeared to be based on a desire to express disapproval of transgender people rather than legitimate concerns about military readiness. Courts cited military studies that found allowing transgender personnel wouldn’t harm military effectiveness.
While the cases were proceeding, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis convened a panel to study the issue and used the group’s recommendations to adopt the current policy, which Mr. Trump has approved. The administration said the new restrictions aren’t a flat ban on service and have some differences from what Mr. Trump ordered in 2017. Some individuals would be allowed to serve, so long as they did so in their biological sex, the administration says. The policy also contains exceptions for transgender people who have been serving openly during the interim period when the Obama-era plan has been in effect.
The Pentagon said the policy isn’t a ban on service by transgender persons. It said the proposed policy “is based on professional military judgment and will ensure that the U.S. Armed Forces remain the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world.”
Legal challengers, including current service members and prospective recruits, say the Mattis policy is still effectively a ban, one that just uses different terms and provisions to exclude transgender people.
“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, legal counsel for civil-rights group Lambda Legal.
One appeals court recently dissolved an injunction that had blocked implementation of the transgender restrictions for now, suggesting the Mattis policy appeared to address some deficiencies in Mr. Trump’s initial approach.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-co ... 1548168481
