Administration seeks quick Supreme Court ruling on transgender troops

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to rule on President Trump's policy restricting military service by transgender people. If granted, the request would bypass challenges in lower courts which, so far, have gone against the administration.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco argued lower court decisions blocking the policy mean "the military has been forced to maintain" an earlier policy which "pose[s] too great a risk to military effectiveness and lethality." Plaintiffs in those cases decried the request for an accelerated decision.

The Supreme Court typically does not hear cases until they have gone through the full appeals process. And after the partisan controversy surrounding the confirmation of new Justice Brett Kavanaugh this fall, the administration's push for a quick decision may be "forcing [the Supreme Court] into a minefield that many justices would almost surely prefer to avoid," lawyer and former SCOTUS clerk Joshua Matz told The Associated Press.

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