Trump's ban on transgender people in military blocked by court

A federal judge in Washingtonon Monday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump from banningtransgender people from serving in the U.S. military, handing avictory to transgender service members who accused the presidentof violating their constitutional rights.

Trump said in a tweet in July he would ban transgender people from themilitary in a move that would reverse Democratic former president Barack Obama's policy and halt years of efforts to eliminate barriers to military service based on sexualorientation or gender identity.

The transgender service members sued in August to try toblock the ban. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruledthat the plaintiffs were entitled to an injunction haltingenforcement of the ban until their case is resolved.

The service members asserted that Trump's policy violatedtheir rights to due process and equal protection under the lawunder the U.S. Constitution.

Trump signed a memorandum in August that directed the U.S.military not to accept transgender men and women as recruits andhalted the use of government funds for sex-reassignmentsurgeries for active-duty personnel unless the process isalready underway.

Kollar-Kotelly said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed intheir claims that the ban was unconstitutional because thereasons given for the ban "do not appear to be supported by anyfacts." She said that other factors, including "the unusualcircumstances surrounding the president's announcement" of theban, weighed in her decision.

The judge, however, tossed out the suit's challenge to thesex-reassignment surgery directive, saying none of theplaintiffs had shown they would be impacted by that prohibition.

Trump's action appealed to his hard-line conservativesupporters. The president in February also rescinded protectionsput in place under Obama for transgender public school students.