US federal court rejects President Trump bid to stop transgender military recruits on January 1
Washington, December 22: Giving a major setback to President Trump’s exclusive plan of banning the transgender recruits into the military, a federal court has straight away dismissed his bid to prevent the U.S. military from accepting transgender recruits starting January 1 of next year.
A federal appeals court in Virginia has ruled against the Trump administration's efforts to delay accepting transgender recruits into the military. Notably, the Trump administration had urged the appeals court to suspend an order by a federal judge in Baltimore for the armed forces to begin accepting transgender recruits on 1st January of next year.
In a brief two-paragraph order, the three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was denying the administration’s request while the appeal proceeds. All three judges are Democratic appointees. However, the court’s action could prompt the administration to ask the conservative-majority US Supreme Court to intervene.
Earlier, in the month of August this year, US President Donald Trump made an announcement about the ban on Twitter in July and followed through with a memo. The memo that banned transgender individuals in US armed forces alleged that his predecessor Barack Obama dismantled the Defence Departments' established framework by permitting transgender individuals to serve openly in the military, authorizing the use of its resources to fund sex-reassignment surgical procedures, and permitting accession of such individuals after July 1, this year.
But the United States Federal Court immediately blocked President Donald Trump's ban on transgender personnel from serving in the US military. Importantly, there are an estimated 250 transgender troops currently serving the United States Armed Forces, according to the media reports.