MILITARY/SUPREME COURT/TRANSGENDER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In yet another aggressive attempt to bypass federal appeals courts, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday [11-23-18] to hear a challenge to President Donald Trump’s policy that bars most transgender individuals from military service. The policy, first announced by the President in July 2017 via Twitter and later officially released by Secretary of Defense James Mattis, blocks individuals who suffer from a condition known as gender dysphoria from serving with limited exceptions. It also specifies that individuals without the condition can serve but only if they do so according to the sex they were assigned at birth. District courts across the country have so far blocked the policy from going into effect. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in one challenge earlier this fall and the DC Circuit will hear arguments in early December. On Friday, Solicitor General Noel Francisco filed petitions asking the justices to take up the issue in three separate cases that are still in lower courts so it could be decided definitively this term. Francisco argues that lower court rulings imposing nationwide injunctions are wrong and warrant immediate review.”
–Ariane de Vogue and Joan Biskupic, “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to take up military transgender ban,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Novmber 23, 2018 10:52 am