Federal court upholds Trump's transgender military ban
President Trump's transgender military ban can stand for now, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
Trump has tossed around several plans to block transgender people from serving in the military, with most of them being struck down in court. But the most recent ban will be allowed to stand now that a Washington, D.C. federal appeals court overturned a lower court's ruling against the ban on Friday, reports Reuters.
In July 2017, Trump moved to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military "in any capacity." He dropped the plans later in the year after legal challenges, but then ordered a new ban on transgender people who "may require substantial medical treatment" in March 2018. Friday's decision came in response to the most recent order, with the appeals court saying there was a "significant change" between Trump's first and second bans. The new ban has clear "standards" that allow "some transgender individuals to serve in the military," the appeals court said.
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"The victory is limited," Reuters says, seeing as other federal courts have stuck down the ban across the country. The Trump administration had already asked the Supreme Court to hear three other legal challenges to the ban, and it's set to be considered privately on Jan. 11.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.