Trump wants high court to take up trans troop ban

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to leapfrog federal appeals courts in several cases concerning the president’s decision to bar transgender people from serving in the military.

Federal district courts have entered injunctions against the new policy, but no appeals court has yet ruled on it. The Supreme Court does not ordinarily intercede until at least one appeals court has considered an issue, and it typically awaits a disagreement among appeals courts before adding a case to its docket.

The Trump administration has, however, repeatedly asked the justices to hear appeals directly from district court rulings. Solicitor General Noel Francisco told the justices that prompt action was required to ensure that the Supreme Court could rule before its current term ends in June.

The Supreme Court’s rules say that it will review a federal trial court’s ruling before an appeals court has spoken “only upon a showing that the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this court.”

In a brief filed Friday, Francisco said, “This case satisfies that standard.”

“It involves,” he wrote, “an issue of imperative public importance: the authority of the U.S. military to determine who may serve in the nation’s armed forces.”

Trial judges have ruled that there is no evidence that service by transgender people threatens military cohesion or readiness.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is set to hear an appeal next month. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in San Francisco, has heard arguments in a separate appeal.

“Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced its intent to short-circuit established practice, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a preliminary district court ruling before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has even had an opportunity to rule,” said Peter Renn, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, which represents the challengers in one of the cases Francisco asked the Supreme Court to consider.