A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court's order preventing the Trump administration from enforcing its ban on transgender troops.

However, in order for the ban to take effect, the government must first reverse three additional nationwide preliminary injunctions against it.

In a series of tweets in July, 2017, President Donald Trump declared that the military will no longer “accept or allow” transgender troops to serve “in any capacity,” reversing Obama-era policy on transgender individuals serving in the military.

LGBT activists filed four lawsuits in federal courts challenging the ban.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the district court should not have blocked the ban from taking effect as it is being challenged in court.

The panel, made up of two Republican and one Democratic appointees, opined that the ban “plausibly relies upon the 'considered professional judgment' of 'appropriate military officials' and appears to permit some transgender individuals to serve in the military.”

The case, Doe v. Trump, was filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD).

“Today's ruling is a devastating slap in the face to transgender service members who have proved their fitness to serve and their dedication to this country,” NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter said in a statement. “We will keep fighting this cruel and irrational policy, which serves no purpose other than to weaken the military and punish transgender service members for their patriotism and service.”

GLAD Transgender Rights Project Director Jennifer Levi added: “Today's decision is based on the absurd idea that forcing transgender people to suppress who they are in order to serve is not a ban. It ignores the reality of transgender people's lives, with devastating consequences, and rests on a complete failure to understand who transgender people are. It is also destabilizing to the military to so dramatically reverse a policy that has been in place for over 2 years that senior military officials acknowledge has operated with no problems.”

Doe was the first legal challenge filed in opposition to Trump's transgender military ban.

(Opinion provided by Equality Case Files.)