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Second Court Rules Against Trump's Latest Trans Military Ban

The losing streak continues.

A second U.S. court has ruled against the Trump administration's latest transgender military ban.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly declined to dissolve the preliminary injunction she ordered last year to halt the planned banning of trans people from service.

In the ruling, Kollar-Kotelly rejected the administration's argument that the "new policy," unveiled in March, is substantially different from its predecessor, and that therefore the plaintiffs in the case—current and aspiring trans service members—lacked standing.

Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

COLUMBUS CIRCLE, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2017/07/29: A group of New Yorkers gathered at Columbus Circle across the Trump International Hotel and Tower New York in Central Park to raise their voices in protest against discrimination towards the LGBT community, in the aftermath of the Trump/Pence regime decision to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military. (Photo by Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"The court found that a number of factors—including the breadth of the exclusion ordered by the directives, the unusual circumstances surrounding the president’s announcement of them, the fact that the reasons given for them did not appear to be supported by any facts, and the recent rejection of those reasons by the military itself—strongly suggested that plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment claim was meritorious," the judge wrote.

She noted in her ruling that this would return the situation to the status quo that was put into place during the Obama administration, and that the interference from the Trump administration amounted to nothing more than "an abrupt reversal in policy, and a revocation of rights, announced without any of the formality, deliberative process, or factual support usually associated with such a significant action."

Trump first made the announcement via a series of tweets last year.

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

US President Donald Trump (L) greets US Secretary of Defense James Mattis (C) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford (R) before speaking at a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 28, 2018. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

The latest policy comes on the recommendations from Defense Secretary James Mattis, who convened a panel to look into the issue further. Documents show those asked to speak on the topic represented a broad range of viewpoints, despite the administration ultimately deciding to side with those who suggested allowing trans people to serve openly could negatively impact troop readiness and cost too much in health care costs.

That conclusion goes against the findings of the RAND study that helped inform the Obama administration's inclusive policy.

Kollar-Kotelly wrote “by targeting proxies of transgender status, such as ‘gender dysphoria’ and ‘gender transition,’ and by requiring all service members to serve ‘in their biological sex,’” the administration had not moved in any appreciable way from its original position with its initial ban.

Her ruling follows one in April by a judge in Seattle who also refused to allow the new ban to go into effect.

The core legal question of the ban's constitutionality remains unsettled, as Trump pushes to get his most recent U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, through the confirmation process as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, transgender individuals wishing to enlist have reported facing red tape that has kept them from successfully joining the ranks.

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