Trump admin asks Supreme Court to speed transgender troops case

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court Friday to step in and rule that a policy prohibiting transgender troops from serving in the military is legal, seeking to short-circuit lower courts that have been skeptical about the ban.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the administration carefully thought out its policy and has decided that limits on transgender troops are in the best interests of national security and the courts should defer to that judgment.

While three district courts have blocked the policy, no circuit appeals court has ruled yet. Mr. Francisco, though, said the administration doesn’t want to wait for those rulings, saying the matter is urgent and should be heard and decided by the Supreme Court before its current term ends in June.

“It involves an issue of imperative public importance: the authority of the U.S. military to determine who may serve in the nation’s armed forces,” Mr. Francisco wrote.

Transgender troops have been controversial for both the Trump and Obama administrations.