The final barrier between trans troops being banned form serving in the US military was lifted earlier this week (26 March).
A federal appeals court struck down the last attempt to block the ban from going into effect, Bloomberg reported.
As the DC Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from the Trump administration to lift an injunction.
With the courts clearing the way for it, Trump’s ban will be implemented as soon as 12 April.
Why was the injunction?
US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly initiated the last injunction.
But a three-judge panel in the Washington appeals court snuffed it, removing any hurdles for the ban to go through.
This followed January’s earlier win for Trump, when the high court ruled in his favor.
Legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights Shannon Minter lamented the news in an email statement.
She wrote: ‘The government’s plan is already wreaking havoc in the lives of dedicated transgender troops.
‘Who must now face the grim choice of suppressing their identity or leaving the military service.’
Previous attempts have failed
High courts previously lifted two other injunctions on the ban in January.
Culminating with a third judge doing the same.
But Judge Kollar-Kotelly declined to lift the ban she imposed. That was, until the US Supreme Court struck down her fourth injunction.
This was appealed, but the courts did not rule in the LGBTI troops’ favor.
Tracking the trans ban
Trump and his administration’s attempts to impose the ban have been bumpy, to say the least. But the last push he needed was this week’s news.
When the ban was first instituted in 2017, Trump received vast backlash.
A month after that, he issued a memorandum declaring the end of trans service at the start of 2018.
But by the end of the year, a lower US court ruled against the policy and a judge said trans troops must be allowed to join.
Trump issued a new policy in March 2018, a more watered-down version of his initial expansive plan.
His efforts to reverse the Obama’s administration’s pro-trans policies was subject to four court challenges.
However, last week the US Supreme court struck down all four injunctions. Lifting blocks on the ban.
The Pentagon have since released a video attempted to decry opposition by showing the ban… is not a ban.
See also
This new TV ad demands Donald Trump drop his trans military ban
Trans military ban ‘a mistake’, says retired US army general