A federal appeals court on Tuesday
lifted the final injunction prohibiting implementation of President
Donald Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military.
A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit
Court of Appeals issued a mandate confirming its order to allow
enforcement of the ban, removing the final legal barrier for the
administration to implement the policy.
Trump first tweeted his decision to ban
transgender troops from serving in 2017. Four lawsuits followed
challenging implementation of the ban. Earlier this month, the
administration said its ban would take effect on April 12, the result
of a Supreme Court decision allowing implementation while the policy
is being challenged in the courts. The high court's decision stayed
two injunctions, while a federal judge in Maryland stayed his
injunction.
(Related: Defense
Department says it will implement transgender military ban on April
12.)
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in a notice that her injunction in the
case Doe v. Trump remained in place and that the
administration was “incorrect” in its claim that no legal
impediment remains in place blocking implementation of the ban. Her
notice prompted the government to file an emergency motion before the
D.C. Circuit seeking the mandate.
Plaintiffs in the case are represented
by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and GLTBQ Advocates
& Defenders (GLAD).
NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter
affirmed that with Tuesday's mandate “there is no legal barrier to
the government's intended plan to start enforcing the Mattis ban on
April 12.”
Courts have yet to rule on the
underlying merits of the four cases challenging the ban.
The U.S. House this week is expected to
pass a resolution rejecting the policy.