On Thursday, Federal Judge George Russell cast aside the prohibition on President Trump’s transgender military ban.
Due to the removal of this prohibition, the Pentagon will be instating the president’s ban following an agreeable ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, reports The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Reviewing the Removal of the Transgender Military Ban Prohibition
In the summer of 2017, President Trump announced that transgender people will not be allowed to serve in the United States military. The announcement first occurred via Twitter:
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
These series of tweets prompted outrage from various individuals and groups which disagreed with the ban. Some people argued that transgender people ought to be allowed to serve in the military, granted that they pass the same entry tests as other candidates.
Additional arguments asserted that the military ought to pay for gender reassignment surgeries while other Americans slammed the ban as an attack on transgender people. Of course, there were others who agreed with the president’s decision to disallow transgender military service.
Those who disagreed with President Trump’s decision did not limit their articulation of this to social media. The transgender military ban was challenged in court and despite the ruling from Judge Russell, the ban still remains in litigation. Therefore, the Pentagon cannot yet issue a full ban on transgender military service until the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals makes a final ruling.
Following the decision from Judge Russell, the Department of Justice (DoJ) issued the following public statement:
“The Department of Defense will be able to implement personnel policies it determined necessary to best defend our nation as litigation continues.”
An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) put out a statement which denounced both President Trump and the military ban:
“The ruling is deeply disappointing for our clients and for transgender service members across the nation. We will continue to fight against this discriminatory policy and the Trump administration’s attacks on transgender people.”
What do you think about the ruling of Judge Russell? Let us know in the comments section down below!
[ABTM id=25171]
