Opponents of President Trump’s transgender military service policy said they are set to make a Christmas Eve filing with the Supreme Court in an effort to head off the administration.
The president’s Justice Department attempted to sidestep lengthy battles in lower federal courts in November by asking the high court to weigh in and clear the way for the administration to restrict many transgender people from enlisting.
A group of transgender troops and rights groups said it will file a response to the petition on Monday arguing against the DOJ request.
There is no legal basis for the Supreme Court to take this case before any court of appeals has had a chance to consider the issues, and long before there is a final judgment in any case,” Shannon Minter, a lead attorney and legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “We are hopeful the Supreme Court will follow its usual practice, deny this unsupported petition, and permit these cases to proceed in a normal, orderly fashion.”
A Supreme Court decision to hear the case during its current term could resolve the military’s transgender policy by the end of June. But a success by opponents will mean the litigation in four lower federal courts will continue possibly for years or even into a new administration.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco has also requested the court to lift an injunction on the new policy if it passes on hearing the case so that the Pentagon can finally enact the restrictions while litigation continues.
The legal fight was sparked by Trump’s Twitter announcement in July 2017 that he was rolling back the Obama administration’s open-service policy and transgender troops would not longer be allowed to serve.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who announced his resignation Thursday, studied the issue for months and eventually crafted a new policy in March that allows nearly 1,000 transgender troops who are currently serving to remain but bars any new enlistees who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria or have undergone gender reassignment surgery.
But the four federal district courts have all issued injunctions blocking Mattis from moving forward, and so far, the DOJ has been unsuccessful in its effort to have them lifted.
