Efforts by the Trump administration to implement a ban on allowing transgender Americans to serve in the military continue to be blocked after yet another court ruling against the policy on Friday.
A federal court in Seattle thwarted an administration request for a stay of an earlier injunction that halted the ban while a government appeal is heard.
“The status quo shall remain ‘steady as she goes,’ and the preliminary injunction shall remain in full force and effect nationwide,” Pechman wrote in her ruling, quoting Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson during previous Senate testimony, The Hill reported.
“Today’s [Friday’s] ruling in the lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN and joined by the State of Washington denied the administration’s motion to stay the preliminary injunction the court had granted in December 2017, blocking implementation of the ban and enabling transgender people to enlist in the military for the first time starting January 1, 2018,” Lambda Legal’s Jonathan Adams wrote.
“You would think the administration would get tired of all the losing, and more importantly, would read the writing on the wall and abandon this discriminatory and harmful scheme to prevent brave and qualified transgender people from serving their country,” Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Peter Renn said.
Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN are representing nine plaintiffs, six who currently serve in the military, in a lawsuit that is expected to go to trial next April, according to Adams.
In the latest ruling, Penchman said the Trump administration had made no new arguments she hadn’t already rejected. Imagine that.
