LEGAL/MILITARY/TRANSGENDER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A U.S. court on Monday [8-9-18] ruled the Trump administration could not enforce an updated policy barring certain transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, becoming the second court in the country to rule against the government since it unveiled the policy in March. Trump announced on March 23 that he would endorse a plan by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to restrict the military service of transgender people who experience a condition called gender dysphoria. The policy replaced an outright ban on transgender service members that Trump announced last year on Twitter, citing concern over military focus and medical costs. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington denied a request by the administration to lift an injunction she had issued against Trump’s original ban. Her ruling follows one by a federal judge in Seattle who in April also refused to allow the new policy to go into effect. The government has appealed that ruling to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The administration argued that the new policy, which also bars anyone who requires or has undergone gender transition, was no longer a categorical ban.”
-Andrew Chung, “U.S. judge bars Trump policy restricting transgender troops,” Reuters, August 6, 2018 1:49 pm