Trump's transgender military ban dealt legal blow after appeals court ruling

A U.S. appeals court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s request to pause a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked its ban on transgender military service members – a near-term blow as the administration signals it may take the case to the Supreme Court.

The three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s request for an administrative stay, which would have allowed it to enforce the ban while a lower court weighs the case.

Instead, the appellate court decision leaves in place, for now, a preliminary injunction handed down late last month by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle. That decision blocked the Trump administration from identifying and removing transgender service members for the near-term while the case proceeds in lower court.

"The Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump’s executive actions, including the Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness Executive Order, and will continue to do so," a spokesperson for the Justice Department told Fox News Digital. 

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The Trump administration filed its appeal to the 9th Circuit last week, seeking to overturn Judge Settle's preliminary injunction. 

In court filings, the government argued that the transgender military policy "furthers the government’s important interests in military readiness, unit cohesion, good order and discipline, and avoiding disproportionate costs."

However, the policy has already faced a wave of early legal challenges.

Settle, who is based in Tacoma, Washington, is not the only federal judge to block the Trump administration’s transgender military ban this year. Last month, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes also temporarily blocked Trump's ban, citing what she described as a lack of evidence to support the administration’s stated rationale for the policy.

Reyes vehemently contested the government's assertion that being transgender is "not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member." 

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Reyes noted in a scathing, 79-page ruling that transgender service members have provided a combined total of "over 130 years of military service," have been deployed around the globe, including currently in an active combat zone, and together have earned more than 80 commendations and medals for their service. 

The three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit broke with Reyes's order, however – agreeing to grant the Trump administration an administrative stay.

Still, the judges stressed that the stay "should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits" of the case. The panel also said they reserve the right to reconsider the administrative stay if the military is found to have taken adverse action against passenger service members. 

President Donald Trump ordered the ban in question shortly after taking office in a January executive order. The order states that the "adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual's sex conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life" – which plaintiffs have vigorously contested. 

The case is one of many that will likely be kicked up to the Supreme Court.