The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to review a lower court’s ruling that temporarily blocked its ban on transgender troops in the military.
In a filing on Thursday, the Justice Department requested that the high court stop the lower court’s injunction and allow the military to disqualify from service “individuals who have gender dysphoria or have undergone medical interventions for gender dysphoria.”
“Absent a stay, the district court’s universal injunction will remain in place for the duration of further review in the Ninth Circuit and in this Court – a period far too long for the military to be forced to maintain a policy that it has determined, in its professional judgment, to be contrary to military readiness and the Nation’s interests,” lawyers for the Trump administration argued.
At issue is President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order requiring the Defense Department to update its guidance regarding “trans-identifying medical standards for military service” and to “rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”
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U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle issued a preliminary injunction in March, barring the administration from identifying and removing transgender service members while the case proceeds.
The administration appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but a three-judge panel rejected its request to stay the injunction.
The administration argued in court filings that the policy “furthers the government’s important interests in military readiness, unit cohesion, good order and discipline, and avoiding disproportionate costs.”
However, the Ninth Circuit declined to grant an administrative stay, which would have let the government enforce the ban while the legal challenge moved forward.
“The Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump’s executive actions, including the Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness Executive Order, and will continue to do so,” a Justice Department official told Fox News Digital at the time.
The policy has faced multiple legal challenges, including a high-profile lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C.
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On March 27, a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals paused a lower court’s order blocking the ban. The panel emphasized that the stay “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits” of the case.
The panel also said it reserved the right to lift the stay if the military was found to have taken adverse action against transgender service members.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on March 26 denied the administration’s motion to dissolve her earlier injunction blocking the Pentagon’s transgender troop ban. The decision came two days before the ban was set to go into effect on March 28.
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Reyes had asked the government to push its original March implementation deadline, saying she wanted to allow more time for the appeals process.
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She also said she had previously allowed plenty of time to appeal her earlier opinion blocking the ban from going into effect.
“I don’t want to jam up the D.C. Circuit. That’s my main concern here,” Reyes said during the March 21 hearing. “My chambers worked incredibly hard to get out an opinion on time.”
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
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