It's official. The AP writes:
Pentagon says it will allow transgender people to enlist in the military beginning Jan. 1, despite Trump's opposition.
Sorry, Trump. Turns out you can't just wake up one morning and set military policy on the whimsy of your stubby little thumbs. Instead, a federal judge rejected the administration's request for more time, saying the military hadn’t shown a great deal of urgency on the matter and had already had plenty of prep time for the change. The Washington Post writes:
“The Court is not persuaded that Defendants will be irreparably injured by” meeting the New Year’s Day deadline, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote. [...]
“With only a brief hiatus, Defendants have had the opportunity to prepare for the accession of transgender individuals into the military for nearly one and a half years,” when the policy was initially issued in June 2016, she wrote. “Especially in light of the record evidence showing, with specifics, that considerable work has already been done, the Court is not convinced by the vague claims in [the government’s] declaration that a stay is needed.”
Kollar-Kotelly and another federal judge in Baltimore have effectively shut down Trump's entire directive: the military not only won't be allowed to kick out transgender troops, it must start recruiting them and pay for their health care costs just like it does any other service member.
Of course, this isn’t necessarily the final word—the judges have only issued preliminary injunctions on Trump’s transgender military ban directive. But their rulings indicate that they believe the administration’s case defending the ban will ultimately fail and once the military starts enlisting openly transgender troops for the first time, the policy will inevitably become more difficult to overturn.