Transgender people can join the military Jan. 1 after court strikes down Trump’s request

The Justice Department had asked for the stay after the Washington, D.C., district court ordered last month that the Pentagon must proceed with the enlistments. The department argued the military would be “seriously and irreparably harmed” if forced to accept new transgender troops by that date.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected the request as part of the Doe v. Trump federal lawsuit filed against Trump, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and other top defense officials by six transgender service members, a Naval Academy midshipman, and an ROTC student.

“Defendants have had the opportunity to prepare for the accession of transgender individuals into the military for nearly one and a half years,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her ruling.

The ruling Monday was another legal setback for President Trump’s effort to ban transgender troops and roll back the open service policy enacted by the Obama administration, which set the Jan. 1 date to begin enlistments.

At the White House, spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the Justice Department is plotting its next move in the case.

“The Department of Justice is currently reviewing the legal options to ensure that the president’s directive can be implemented,” she said.

A district judge in Maryland also issued an injunction last month barring the Pentagon from moving ahead with a ban. Rulings on injunctions in two other federal lawsuits in Washington state and California were expected.

The Justice Department is appealing the injunctions and could appeal the emergency stay ruling. Under the current court orders, Mattis must begin allowing the new transgender enlistees within weeks.

“The Department of Defense is a large and complex agency with over 20,000 recruiters and 65 geographically dispersed Military Entrancing Processing Stations,” according to the Justice Department stay motion filed last week. “Given the complex and multidisciplinary nature of the medical standards that need to be issued and the tens of thousands of geographically dispersed individuals that need to be trained, the military will not be adequately prepared to begin processing transgender applicants for military service by January 1, 2018.”

The Pentagon told the Washington Examiner that preparations are now underway in case it must follow through with the enlistments.

The Doe v. Trump plaintiffs had opposed any delay, saying the Pentagon had been preparing for transgender recruits since June 2016.

“The government cannot credibly claim that it will be irreparably harmed by implementing a policy that it was on track to implement almost six months ago,” they argued in a court filing on Friday.

Trump announced via a series of tweets in July that transgender troops would no longer be allowed to serve in any capacity and followed up a month later with orders for Mattis to abandon plans for transgender enlistments beginning in January, eliminate coverage for gender reassignment surgeries, and decide how to deal with what could be thousands of currently serving transgender troops.

Under the current court orders, Mattis must begin allowing the new transgender troops within weeks. The Obama administration had set the enlistments to begin last July but Mattis delayed the move for six months prior to Trump’s tweets and order.