Supreme Court allows Trump's partial military ban on transgender people in military to take effect

The Supreme Court will allow President Donald Trump's partial ban on transgender people serving in the military to take effect while court challenges continue.Responding to Justice Department requests, the high court Tuesday cleared away lower court actions that blocked the controversial policy from being implemented for nearly a year.

The order represents a victory for the administration, which has railed against nationwide injunctions issued by local judges. Similar injunctions have thwarted efforts to deport undocumented immigrants who arrived as children, as well as asylum-seekers who cross the border illegally.

The justices stopped short of agreeing to hear the administration's appeal in the transgender troops case, which means lower court challenges can proceed. Four district court judges have blocked the policy, but a federal appeals court last week reversed one of those injunctions.

The high court's action followed that ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It ruled that the policy had been fine-tuned by Pentagon officials over a period of months and no longer constituted a "blanket ban."