Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Transgender Military Ban in Washington State: “Not a Close Question”:

A U.S judge from Washington has prevented the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s transgender ban in the military, which serves as the second injunction against his policy in two weeks. “There is no basis for the government’s arguments,” he explained, implying there’s no justification to support the idea in question.

The decision made on Thursday was ongoing from several years ago, filed by some transgender military members who claimed the ban is both derogatory and prejudicial and their termination would adversely harm their careers and reputation.

While coming to a conclusion, Settle claimed that there was no rational insight from the administration on why they would suddenly enforce a ban on allowing active troops to serve openly, under the condition there were no active issues. The other reasoning, “In the Settle’s Words,” explains that the government’s arguments are far from persuasive ,and extremely easy to disprove based on the provided evidence.

“The government's unquestioned dependence on military perspectives is unreasonable in light of the absence of proof supporting ‘the military's’ new assessment as stated in the Military Ban.”

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of Washington, D.C., blocked the policy last week, but has paused her ruling to allow the government time to appeal. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia notified the parties on Thursday that it may stay the ruling if “any action occurs that adversely affects” transgender service members.

A New Jersey judge limited the Air Force's power to discharge two transgender men on Monday, arguing that their separation would inflict irreparable damage to their post-career reputation and any amount of compensation would be insufficient.

Trump signed an executive order on January 27 saying that the existence of transgender members of the military “contradicts the identity of a soldier committed to living an honorable, truthful, and disciplined life even in one’s personal life” and is detrimental to military preparedness.

In turn, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth enacted a policy that obviously excludes transgender individuals from serving in the military.

“They are capable of completing the appropriate number of pushups and pullups and can also shoot accurately,” Sasha Buchert of Lambda Legal said after the arguments in Tacoma on Monday. “But for some reason, these individuals are being forced out of the military due to their identity.” Buchert was referring to the ‘involuntary separation policies’ the military has for personnel who do not conform to expected gender norms. In Tacoma, Buchert’s clientsinclude Gender Justice League, which alongside other progressive members of the military, openly supports transgender servicemen and women. Also, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Emily “Hawking” Shilling, 42, has been in the Navy for over 19 years and has flown combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan as an aviator. She is currently on active duty.

Settle also noted Buchert’s testimony.

"Nothing in her writ indicates or suggests that she has, or is capable of, impeding her unit’s cohesion, or the military’s lethality or readiness, or that she is mentally or physically unfit to render further service," Shilling’s lawyers quoted the report. “There is no claim and no evidence that Shilling, herself, is a lying self-serving individual, utterly bereft of modesty and dignity. In the absence of an injunction, she will be discharged immediately on the sole ground of being a transgender person.”

In similar argument during Monday’s session, Justice department’s Jason Lynch claimed the president is due for deference in military matters and prompted them to consider the possibility of the service ban being narrower than what the plaintiffs had claimed.

The judge bombarded Lynch with questions and was very critical of the claim stating that the government has shown no proof that allowing transgender people to serve has interfered with the military’s supposed level of readiness.

Even though there are thousands of serving transgender people, they make up less than one percent of all active-duty servicemen and women.

A policy from the Defense Department back from 2016 allowed the aid of transgender people in the military openly. In Trump’s first term of presidency, a Republican order directed the banning of transgender service members on the military with a few exceptions for those who had undergone some levels of transition during the mercy period of Obama’s rule. That ban was legitimized by the Supreme Court. When Joe Biden, a Democrat, came into office, he withdrew that ban.