A federal judge in Maryland issued a second order on Tuesday blocking President Trump from implementing his ban on transgender military service.
The preliminary injunction was granted to a group of active-duty transgender troops who sued Trump and top military officials in August. For now, it bars the Pentagon and Coast Guard from implementing or enforcing Trump’s August guidance aimed at rolling back the Obama administration’s policy of allowing open service and medical care for transgender troops.
“This preliminary injunction shall remain in effect until such time, if ever, that [it] is rescinded or modified by further order of this court,” District Court Judge Marvin Garbis wrote in the order.
In October, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., also ordered a preliminary injunction on the ban, dealing the Trump Justice Department its first courtroom setback.
The proposed ban has triggered ongoing federal lawsuits in D.C., Maryland, California and Washington state.
Trump tweeted in July that transgender troops would no longer be allowed to serve in any capacity. He followed that up with a presidential order in August directing the Pentagon and Coast Guard to abandon plans for transgender recruitment, discontinue funding for gender reassignment surgeries, and decide how to deal with those currently serving.
The military had been set to begin transgender recruitment in January before the Trump order.
