Federal judge rules military must accept transgender recruits beginning Jan. 1 (Update: DOJ files emergency stay)
“There is absolutely no support for the claim that service of transgender individuals would have any negative effect on the military at all”
A federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled Monday afternoon that, beginning January 1, the U.S. military will be required to allow enlistment of openly transgender recruits.
The order issued by Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton-appointee on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is embedded at the bottom of this post. She had already ruled on October 30 that the military could not delay implementing this new policy, which had been finalized under the Obama Administration but not fully put into effect. The government requested that she stay her ruling pending appellate review. She declined to do so Monday.
In 2016, the military began allowing transgender individuals to serve openly, but crucially, the change applied only to current service-members. In June 2017, Defense Secretary James Mattis announced that he would delay plans to allow new transgender recruits to enlist.
“There is absolutely no support for the claim that service of transgender individuals would have any negative effect on the military at all,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in rejecting the government’s argument that the accession of transgender recruits would cause “irreparable harm” to the military. Government lawyers and judges have fought bitterly over whether or not courts are required to defer to President Trump’s judgment on executive matters, no matter how wrong or unsupportable judges claim it is. This ruling continues what well may be the motif of Year I of the Trump Administration: Trump says one thing — often on Twitter — and judges simply say that he’s wrong.
The judge also appeared to fault the government for dragging its feet in opposing her October injunction. “There is also no indication that Defendants have sought any sort of expedited review of their appeal, the first deadlines in which are not until January, 2018. If complying with the military’s previously established January 1, 2018 deadline to begin accession was as unmanageable as Defendants now suggest, one would have expected Defendants to act with more alacrity.”
The Associated Press, along with other outlets, misreported the story, misleading readers into thinking that the Pentagon is defying Trump because it disagrees with his views on the subject.
BREAKING: Pentagon says it will allow transgender people to enlist in the military beginning Jan. 1, despite Trump's opposition.
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 11, 2017
In reality, the Pentagon is simply complying with the ruling, and there is no evidence that Trump has instructed the military to ignore the order. The actual AP story acknowledges this. But that story has been retweeted several hundred times, while the misleading tweet has been retweeted more than 20,000 times.
Pentagon announces that transgender recruits will be allowed to enlist in the military as of Jan. 1, after two court judges ruled against Trump's ban. https://t.co/DtGAMGqFGs
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) December 11, 2017
Mark Joseph Stern, a journalist who covers law for Slate, confirmed that the tweet is wrong.
Just confirmed with the lead lawyer on this case: This tweet is WRONG. The Pentagon will *respect a court order* requiring transgender enlistment on Jan. 1. That's it. The order will likely be appealed before then. https://t.co/dL0F9fKCYE
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) December 11, 2017
Needless to say, it would be a devastating commentary on Trump’s control over his personnel if military officers felt free to ignore him. In many cases, Trump has been undermined by appointees hostile to his campaign promises, leading to official bureaucratic policy being out-of-sync with the president’s preferences.
Last month, the Department of the Interior appeared to blindside Trump by reversing a policy designed to discourage elephant poaching in Africa. After widespread backlash, Trump tweeted that he would shelve the reversal pending “review.” More recently, the State Department, headed by Rex Tillerson, basically declared that Trump’s Jerusalem declaration is meaningless and that U.S. diplomacy will continue to hew to the status quo.
So this is actually a genuine problem that has dogged Trump. But in its eagerness to portray Trump as a hapless commander-in-chief sidelined by his own people — even “the generals” that he’s so fond of — the AP overlooked the fact that the military has no choice but to delay implementing Trump’s policy. A minor detail, one supposes.
It is unclear how quickly the D.C. Circuit will rule on the government’s stay request. As it happens, the D.C. Circuit has a 7-4 Democratic-appointed majority (with a fair number of GOP-appointed senior judges), so unless the government happened to draw a panel with two conservatives on it, Kollar-Kotelly’s order will probably stand for the foreseeable future.
Jane Doe Vs. Donald Trump by Legal Insurrection on Scribd
Update:
The DOJ files an emergency motion for stay and partial stay pending appeal
Transgender Emergency Appeal by Legal Insurrection on Scribd
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Comments
“There is absolutely no support for the claim that service of transgender individuals would have any negative effect on the military at all”
The judge is an idiot substituting his own high opinion for fact.
MMC USN(ret)
I mean, if you think it’s safe for a person prone to suicide to be given hormones, sent to a high stress environment, and given a gun…there’s like zero evidence that it would have a negative effect.
Let’s “Transgender” that Judge and send them to the front lines……
Snark.
We used medically retire diabetics because it was too difficult to maintain their insulin supplies on deployment. And now we’re supposed to keep all these transgendered’s hormones on hand?
OK, fine, I hope this judge doesn’t get her panties in a wad when we don’t sacrifice space for necessary medical supplies and leave the hormones on the pier.
Say hello to the bearded lady, kids.
Just ignore the Judge Kollar-Kotelly‘s ruling. Thank the judge for the opinion but simply choose to ignore. Nothing will happen.
Two words for this hack, idiot judge:
Bradley Manning.
No, of course there won’t be any* effect on preparedness.
(*) Other than the average $132,000 surgical expense for any gender surgery (CNN), average undeployable time of 210 days each (RAND corp est), and of course the 20-25% complication rate post-surgery.
and 3 toilets he – she -it.
and don’t want to even think about combat (yuk) ..
for dykes not a problem for he/she big problems.
don’t want to think about harassment charges as well.
Gee, if only we had an Attorney General who understood the Constitution who could issue a legal opinion pointing out that this judge’s ruling is un-Constitutional. If only.
Oi, Sessions is such a disappointment.
Sessions would be a mere ‘disappointment’ if he was incompetent.
As it turns out, he’s part of the problem.
We’ve got to get him out of office.
–> if only we had an Attorney General <–
Now, the military needs to say “You’ve made your ruling. Now, come enforce it.
Did the DOJ lawyers put forth their best legal arguments? Or are there still people like Sally Yates on the payroll who are out to sabotage the president?
Who does this judge think he is? He does not set “policy”. I just checked the UCMJ and the chain of command no where do I see Federal Judge listed.
All President Trump to do is issue an order as commander-in-chief canceling this policy.
The judge is a she not a he…Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly…
Of course, in this day and age…a “she” could be a “he”…or vise-versa….So, who knows? (very confusing)
He? She?
Are you sure?
From what I understand there are now more than 2 genders….
Male, Female, Don’t know, What day is it?, and Holy Crap she’s got a full beard!!!
There’s probably more….but I’m not sure.
Why does the military pay for the surgery?
Surely a case can be made that it is elective?
Satisfy the judge in the short term by admitting TG’s AFTER their “transition”?
Send the billings for the surgery, etc. to the judge.
Specify any surgery the taxpayers pay for has to be done at a VA hospital. They can get in line with the veterans who actually need care.
H3ll NO! They’d be pushed to the front of the line in front of all the vets.
First of all, no one has a Constitutional right to serve in the military. That includes transgenders. Transgenderism is a form of mental illness which incorporates delusion. If an applicant stated that he believed that he was an ostrich he would be eliminated from consideration. As many transgender individuals become transsexual, this would place an unacceptable financial burden upon the government.The government does not have to show that banning transgenders will in any way hinder its various missions. It can, and has, clearly shown that any transgender individual is going to needlessly cost the military and the public unnecessary costs. Any transitional surgeries are expensive and hormone treatments necessary to maintain gender specific characteristics during and after gender transformation are a needless expense. This does not include restructuring of military units to accommodate transgender individuals who are undergoing transitional procedures. Then we have the problem of non-transsexual transgender housing. A functional male who identifies as a female could not be housed with either females or males. Therefor, separate housing facilities would have to be provided for these individuals. Again, needless cost.
This is all simply stupid.
If this is implemented, I’m sure the services will be in a competition to see who will have the first (fill in the blank) to become a (prestigious billet), combat effectiveness be damned.
Kara Hultgren, anybody?
On 25 October 1994, Hultgreen died when her F-14A-95-GR, BuNo 160390,[4] coded “NH 103”, crashed on approach to USS Abraham Lincoln.
….
As with most approaches to a carrier landing, Hultgreen’s incident was videotaped by two cameras. The tape shows an overshooting turn onto final, then apparent engine failure, followed by an audible wave-off and gear-up command from the landing signal officer. Segments shown on broadcast television concluded with the rapid sequence of aircraft stall, roll, crew ejections, and impact with the water.
Not the only F-14 lost like that; almost a standard recipe.
Much like the last (probably THE last ever) EA-6B crash:
https://news.usni.org/2014/03/12/2013-prowler-crash-killed-three-found-result-pilot-error
Yes, but she should have been kicked out of the training pipeline because she had two or three serious downs. One was for making the exact same mistake that got her killed.
Her flight instructor, a LT, put his career on the line trying to force her out. Trying to save her life and her RIO’s. But the Navy was in a race with the Air Force to put a woman in a fighter. So the CO of the RAG took over as her flight instructor and gave her high marks. The Navy was going to end the LT’s career for daring to put the safety of air and ground crew (she almost killed a Sailor during refueling while in training) ahead of post-Tailhook politics.
Unfortunately for big Navy and Hultgren, but lucky for the LT, she killed herself exactly as she almost had during training. Exactly as the LT told his chain of command she was going to kill herself.
As I understand, her F-14 had early engine design that didn’t take kindly to mistakes. At least her RIO punched out OK, but the roll put her ejection straight down into the water.
Agree’d. Now what they should do is make it clear that just because you dress up as a woman on your free time, you will dress in sex (I think that is the word the SJW’s use for biological sex this week) appropriate attire according to military policy. No elective procedures will be performed on the military tab. The military doesn’t pay for breast enlargements why should they pay for Radical Penis Reductions?
In short, Dress how you want when off duty, but while on duty you will follow military code and regulation. Then do away with skirts for women and make all uniforms more Uni-sex. Oh, and no more high heels, dump the pumps.
“This is all simply stupid….”
Worse: this is all simply about destroying our nation as it was founded.
It is stupid, but it is still yet another shove down the road to eliminating all standards. Another push toward the chaos the Left needs to try and take over.
I’m wondering under what authority the judge is using to make himself commander in chief?
If you check your Living Constitution, I believe you will find it among the emanated rights in the Bill of Penumbras.
I guess I missed the part where the judiciary was given any role in command of the military. I’m pretty sure the Constitution identifies the president as the commander in chief, and does not cite any role in decision making by any other branch of government.
If the president is unable to decide who can join the military, then the president is, quite simply, no longer the commander in chief. There’s just no room for the insertion of judicial opinions that they think the president is wrong. Quite simply, it doesn’t matter what they think.
Judge Kollar-Kotelly, I foresee an embarrassing reversal in your future.
Oh—but she will find herself so lavishly praised by her liberal co-degenerates that the empty acclaim will completely override any possible shame she should experience in ruling so stupidly.
this is one of the reasons why i advocate term limits for judiciary as well for congressional critters.
we need an amendment if necessary to create this law.
we need a plebsite to decide this – i hope that clear thinking Americans would approve.
At the very least they should have to be reviewed every 10 years by a senate committee.
It’s called a Convention of States.
https://conventionofstates.com
if I;m not mistaken this judge was involved in an Microsoft patent infringement lawsuit a while back
I wish I could be as confident of the outcome as you. Our Black Robed Masters will continue to do whatever they wish as long as we, the people, allow them to get away with it.
Oh good, yes, let confused people carry weapons. If you think you are something you are not (you can NOT change your DNA – if you are man who chops his unit off, you’re just a man without a pair)… you are confused or mentally ill.
Can’t go wrong eh…
no such thing as mentally ill in this day and age –
if they allow Muslims in well what can i say, except watch your back and keep situational awareness at all times.
maybe they can bake a cake for these undecided people.
army saying this is my rifle this is my gun,…
Full Metal Jacket Opening Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j3_iPskjxk
I thought judges were supposed to use careful legal analysis to render verdicts, and not just pull this stuff out of their asses based on nothing more than feelings and emotions.
Never Trumper lefty.
She is just following SCOTUS:
“At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life – Anthony Kennedy”
She has taken the liberty to define herself as Commander in Chief.
/me looks lovingly at his retirement orders
FTS! i am SO glad i’m in the Retired Reserve. unless the PLA starts landing at Santa Monica, i won’t be called up for anything, so i just have to read about this stupidity, not deal with it in uniform.
Well, at least this way, we finally recruit females who can meet the minimum pull-up standards.
The “Pentagons decision” this is just one of those journalistic mistakes and not fake news, just ask them.
Time for SCOTUS
Why? I don’t think any CinC should have to go crawling to the SCOTUS to beg them to let him exercise his constitutional authority.
If COMMANDER IN CHIEF TRUMP ignores this overreach of a judicial maliciousness and countermands it, per his Constitutional authority, per the ancient laws of military and admiralty law, that example would help much in Israel for Bibi, and Israel’s chaos of law.
The media is like the NFL, they are doing everything they can to run off their audience and go out of business when too few are left buying the crap they are selling. It is truly bizarre.
The Ostrich Defense! Why didn’t I think of that!
“There is absolutely no support for the claim that service of transgender individuals would have any negative effect on the military at all,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in rejecting the government’s argument that the accession of transgender recruits would cause “irreparable harm” to the military.”
A transgender person has severe psychological problems ( or at least severe hormonal/chemical imbalances). Any one schooled in basic science (not social science) would recongnize that such an individual will unlikely be able to function in a combat role or supporting role.
That is not to say that gays cant function at critical positions such as alan turing in his egnima code breaking role.
Transgender individuals have those severe issues a prime example being bradley manning
Yea leftist want this, people who think they are the opposite gender who take massive hormone doses that can cause their judgment to be impaired. But lets take guns away from civilians who are on medication for mild depression or ADHD. I mean WTF??
The government’s response to this ruling should be a drawing of a fist with a raised middle finger and then underneath, “Per the Constitution we have one Commander in Chief and you’re not it.”
Written using one of Trump’s gold-colored Sharpies.
Why isn’t the Republican held Congress initiating impeachment procedures against this Constitution-shredding judge?
hetero males over 40 with masters degrees and able to run 10 miles @ 6 min pace still ineligible to enlist as new enlistees.
Yep, or even return to service except in the most extreme circumstances.
During the build up for Desert Storm more than a few older retirees asked if they could return to active duty. They were told they were all in draft classification 8I. “8I? What’s that?” they all asked. And were told when the enemy got to Eighth and I Streets in Washington DC, they’d be getting a call…
Sorry, but these folks have serious problems and are not suited for combat or the stresses of long deployments. I could be all wrong. What’s say we let these questionable folks prove themselves in some sort of security component protecting judges like this in a riot.
POTUS should just ignore the ruling, and direct the military to ignore it. Fire those that will not carry out the constitutional authority of the commandeer in chief.
With so few transgenders in the US (.03% I’m told) they will be required to be embedded with non trans soldiers. While the military requires soldiers to work together there is no requirement that soldiers like who they are working with. Therein lies the problem. This will put a strain on the NCO’s and officers to sustain unit cohesion not to mention recruiting and retention challenges. It may be possible to create a fighting force of transgender people if enough enlist (or maybe are drafted) then the military could measure combat performance. The US has done this before when some groups were judged as not military capable. Makes sense?
I would consider it real progress if the President said something like this: “I can read as well as the so-called judge, and her opinion is not based on the Constitution or any US law, and to keep my oath to support and defend the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, I will go with the Constitution, which makes me responsible for this decision, not any unelected judge.” The Constitution establishes three independent co-equal branches of government, under the Constitution – we have a de-facto coup in which we have two branches under the third – the judiciary, a view which makes the judiciary, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, “a despotic branch.”
How soon till federal judges inject themselves into other decisions the military makes. It’s certainly reasonable to expect a Muslim in the US bringing suit to stop military actions taking place in their home country….
Q: What’s the difference between God and a Democrat district court judge?
A: God is a lot more humble and realistic about what He can and can’t do.
God cannot be bought.
Right, Justice Roberts?
Obama’s legacy is full of gifts that keep on giving. What a damn turd.
“Update: The DOJ files an emergency motion for stay and partial stay pending appeal”
I still think a drawing of Trump flipping her the bird would have been the the more appropriate filing, with Congress initiating impeachment proceedings against Colleen Kollar-Kotelly the proper resolution of the case.
What’s next? Some federal judge is going to order Trump to pardon next year’s Thanksgiving turkeys two weeks earlier than he did this year?