Judge: President Trump’s ban on transgender troops on hold until trial

SEATTLE — A U.S. judge in Seattle has ordered President Donald Trump not to ban transgender troops from serving in the military, saying it’s unclear whether recent changes to his administration’s policy are constitutional.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman was one of four judges nationwide who blocked Trump late last year from overturning an Obamaera directive allowing transgender troops to serve openly. The Justice Department asked her to dissolve that ruling, citing changes that would allow transgender troops to serve in limited cases.

Because the changes were announced just last month, the sides had not had time to argue whether the policy is discriminatory or whether the military is entitled to set its own policy, given its expertise in what’s needed for national defense, Pechman said in an order Friday. She told the parties to prepare for trial.

“Because transgender people have long been subjected to systemic oppression and forced to live in silence, they are a protected class,” Pechman wrote. “Therefore, any attempt to exclude them from military service will be looked at with the highest level of care.”

She also said the government must show that the ban “was sincerely motivated by compelling interests, rather than by prejudice or stereotype, and that it is narrowly tailored to achieve those interests.”

The Pentagon lifted its longstanding ban on transgender troops in 2016. Trump took defense leaders by surprise last July, when he tweeted that the U.S. government would not allow transgender members to serve.

It triggered a number of lawsuits, and federal judges in Seattle; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; and Riverside, California, blocked Trump from rescinding former President Barack Obama’s policy. The Pentagon began allowing transgender people to serve and enlist on Jan. 1.