The Trump administration urged the U. S. Supreme Court Friday to immediately take up the legal battle over transgender military service.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration urged the U. S. Supreme Court Friday to immediately take up the legal battle over transgender military service, asking the justices to act even before the issue has gone through the lower courts.
The Supreme Court rarely allows such a move to leapfrog over the usual appeals process, but Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the Obama administration’s policy of allowing transgender service poses a threat to military readiness and imposes « an unreasonable burden on the military that is not conducive to military readiness and lethality. »
President Donald Trump took the Pentagon by surprise in July 2017 when he said in a series of tweets that the government « will not accept or allow » transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U. S. military. Six months later, Defense Secretary James Mattis proposed a modified policy, ultimately approved by the president, that would allow transgender individuals to serve, but only if they did not seek gender transition and agreed to serve « in their biological sex.
