After a series of legal losses greeted the Trump administration’s attempt to ban openly transgender people from joining the military, the Justice Department confirmed that it will no longer try to block the January 1st, 2018 date on which trans people will be able to enlist.
According to BuzzFeed News, the administration had few other options:
The decision by the Justice Department followed repeated losses in court on the issue. On Dec. 21, the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit denied the Justice Department's request to put a lower court's order regarding the date — the accession deadline — on hold, allowing for further delay. The next day, in a more detailed order, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit reached the same conclusion. There are also two other injunctions out of district courts within the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
The only real move left for the administration, then, would have been to seek a ruling from the Supreme Court putting all of those lower court injunctions partially on hold by allowing Mattis to delay the accession deadline again.
It’s estimated that around 150,00 transgender people have served in the U.S. military, and more have been waiting to join since President Obama announced that openly trans people would be able to enlist on June 1st, 2017. The Trump administration delayed the date by six months, and, after a presidential tweetstorm, embarked on a vigorous campaign to block transgender people from enlisting. Though this is a major win for LGBT rights, the fight may not be over—the Justice Department told BuzzFeed that it may pursue further legal action pending the results of a Defense Department study.