Trump wants quick ruling on transgender military ban

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to fast-track a ruling on the Pentagon’s policy of restricting military service by transgender people.

The policy, announced by the president last year, would block many of those diagnosed with gender dysphoria from serving in the military and overturn an Obama-era decision that allowed these individuals to serve. Trump’s policy does allow transgender individuals to serve, but only if they serve as the sex they were assigned at birth.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco asked in the request made Friday that a number of legal challenges to the policy be consolidated and heard before the Supreme Court. The move, though, would bypass federal appeals courts, which have drawn ire from President Donald Trump for rulings against many of his policies.

Legal challenges to the transgender policy have so far been mostly won by advocates who sued on behalf of transgender individuals. Francisco requested that three cases in lower courts be fast-tracked, skipping appeals courts, and heard before the high court so the rulings could be finalized.

“The decisions imposing those injunctions are wrong, and they warrant this Court’s immediate review,” Francisco wrote in the request, asking justices to “consider this important dispute this term.”

“There is no urgency here and no reason for the court to weigh in at this juncture,” said Jennifer Levi, GLAD transgender rights project director. “The injunctions preserve the status quo of the open service policy that was thoroughly vetted by the military itself and has been in place now for more than two years. This is simply one more attempt by a reckless Trump administration to push through a discriminatory policy.”