Transgender Ban and Supreme Court

The Trump administration has asked the United States Supreme Court to fast-track a ruling on its ban restricting transgender service members from serving in the military. According to NPR, “The proposed policy in question was sent to the president in February by Defense Secretary James Mattis. Those rules would disqualify service members ‘who require or have undergone gender transition.’”

Instructors, click the link below to download this week’s lecture for use in your classroom. The deck contains a writing prompt and a debate question as well as other assessment questions.

11.26-Transgender-Ban-and-Supreme-Court.1

Links

“Trump asks Supreme Court to fast-track ruling on transgender military ban”
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/23/donald-trump-supreme-court- transgender-military-ban/2095213002/

“Trump administration wants Supreme Court to take up transgender military ban now”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/trump-administration-wants-supreme-court-take-transgender-military-ban-now-n939531

“Trump asks Supreme Court to consider transgender military ban”
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-consider-transgender-military-ban-2018-11

“Trump administration seeks quick Supreme Court ruling on transgender military ban”
http://time.com/5462519/trump-administration-supreme-court-transgender-people-military-service/

“Trump administration asks Supreme Court to take up military transgender ban”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/23/politics/military-transgender-ban-supreme-court/index.html

“Analysis: Could Trump’s military ban actually become policy?”
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/analysis-could-trump-s-trans-military-ban-actually- become-policy-n795556

“Analysis: No one saw Trump’s transgender military ban coming”
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/analysis-trumps-transgender-military-ban-coming/story?id=48869839

“Five unanswered questions about Trump’s ‘ban’ on transgender troops”
https://www.npr.org/2017/07/27/539559582/5-unanswered-questions-about-trumps-ban-on-transgender-troops

“Trump’s transgender military ban ‘worse than don’t ask, don’t tell,’ advocates say”
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trump-s-transgender-military-ban-worse-don-t-ask-don-n860181

“Donald Trump’s transgender military ban: What you need to know”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-27/what-is-happening-with-trumps-transgender-military-ban/8747506

Assessment

• Writing: Why is the Trump administration seeking an expedited review of its transgender ban before the Supreme Court?
• Debate: The Supreme Court should wait for lower court rulings before taking the case on transgender individuals serving in the military.
• Poll: Do you believe the Supreme Court will agree to an expedited review of the ban?
• Short Answer: Why is it unusual for the Supreme Court to agree to expedited rulings?

Current events quiz:

1) The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to rule on the transgender military ban, bypassing which court?

a. State
b. Circuit
c. District
d. Appellate

2) The administration’s transgender military ban aims to reverse an Obama-era policy which would allow:

1. Transgender people to serve in the military
2. Transgender people to receive funding for sex reassignment surgery
3. Generals to decide if they wanted to allow transgender people to serve under them or not
4. Both A and B

3) Many people say that they did not see Trump’s transgender military ban coming. This might be due to what?

1. Trump campaigned as a friend and ally of the LGBTQ community
2. Trump openly stated during his campaign that he would not ban transgender people from the military
3. The Department of Defense was expected to stop his tweet announcing the ban
4. People actually did predict the transgender military ban, since Trump had insinuated that he would do it during campaigning.

4) The transgender military ban might allow for current transgender military members to remain in uniform. (T/F)

5) This is the fourth time in recent months that the administration has sought to bypass lower courts that have blocked some of the Trump administration’s more controversial proposals. (T/F)

6) The transgender military ban is ultimately a ban of every single transgender person from serving in the military, regardless of special circumstances or limited guidelines. (T/F)

Answers:

1) D

2) D

3) A

4) True

5) True

6) False

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