SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) — Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced April 16 that, together with Lambda Legal and OutServe-SDLN, his office has won a court victory against the Trump administration after it instituted an allegedly illegal ban against transgender individuals who openly serve in the military.
“The court finds that the 2018 memorandum and the Implementation plan do not substantively rescind or revoke the ban, but instead threaten the very same violations that caused it and other courts to enjoin the ban in the first place,” Judge Marsha Pechman wrote in her decision.
Pechman’s decision means that an injunction against Trump’s transgender military service ban will remain in place.
“The ban specifically targets one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, and must satisfy strict scrutiny if it is to survive,” Pechman wrote.
Ferguson was positive about Pechman’s decision.
“The court’s ruling means President Trump’s hastily conceived and discriminatory ban now has to stand up to the court’s most rigorous standard of review,” Ferguson said in a statement. “I am confident the ban will not withstand that and the court will strike down this unconstitutional policy. I look forward to continuing our fight for the rights of transgender Washingtonians.”