Trump asks high court to take up transgender ban

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday once again asked the Supreme Court to bypass the usual legal process to take on another controversial issue: President Donald Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from military service.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco asked the justices to consolidate the challenges to the ban — which so far have been successful in lower courts — and rule on the issue in its current term.

Civil rights groups and gay rights organizations are fighting the president’s order that would prohibit transgender men and women from enlisting, possibly subjecting current service members to discharge and denying them certain medical care.

Trump announced in a July 2017 tweet that he was reversing an Obama administration policy allowing transgender men and women to serve openly and to receive funding for sexreassignment surgery.

Trump’s message that “the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military” surprised military leaders and members of Congress. Trump said he was “doing the military a great favor” by “coming out and just saying it.”

Trump issued a memorandum ordering Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to submit “a plan for implementing” the ban. The Mattis plan was submitted this year.