A federal judge on Monday did not approve President Donald Trump administration’s request to dismiss a lawsuit against the transgender military ban and lift the injunction blocking the ban from taking effect, The Hill reported.
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Monday wrote that the transgender policy outlined by Defense Secretary James Mattis in March was not different from President Trump’s plan to ban transgender people from the military.
“Instead, at a fundamental level, the Mattis Implementation Plan is just that — a plan that implements the president’s directive that transgender people be excluded from the military,” wrote Kollar-Kotelly, an appointee of former President Clinton.
“Nothing in this Memorandum Opinion represents a final adjudication of whether defendants’ actions were constitutional. The court merely holds that whatever legal relevance the Mattis Implementation Plan might have, it has not fundamentally changed the circumstances of this lawsuit such that plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, or that the need for the court’s preliminary injunction has dissipated.”
The case was part of a lawsuit filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) on behalf of five unnamed service members and two recruits.
“The Trump administration’s arguments to dismiss our lawsuit and move forward with the trans military ban are full of sweeping generalizations and false stereotypes about transgender people,” Jennifer Levi, GLAD transgender rights project director, said in a statement “It’s clear Judge Kollar-Kotelly isn’t buying it—and neither should anyone else.”
According to The Hill, the suit is one of four that have been filed since Trump first announced on Twitter his intention to ban transgender people from serving in the military in July 2017.
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