A Maryland federal court ruled yesterday that the Trump Administration must turn over the documents allegedly justifying the trans military ban. From Law360: Law360 (August 15, 2018, 7:35 PM EDT) -- A Maryland federal court judge on Tuesday ruled the Trump administration cannot shield documents in a suit over the introduction of its policy barring many transgender individuals from military service, saying the documents could reveal whether there was a discriminatory intent behind the introduction of the policy. U.S. Magistrate Judge A. David Copperthite said the Trump administration must produce documents related to “deliberative materials” regarding President Donald Trump’s tweets in which he announced the policy, the activities of the U.S. Department of Defense’s expert panel tasked with looking at the implementation of the policy, and the implementation plan and memorandum that was accepted by the president in March. The court agreed with the military servicemember plaintiffs’ assertion that the documents they seek are key to determining the government’s intent when formulating the ban, and as such are not protected by “deliberative process privilege,” as the defendants had argued. “It also could not be more clear that the defendants’ intent — whether it was military purposes or whether it was purely for political and discriminatory purposes — is at the very heart of this litigation,” Judge Copperthite said. Documents relating to the way the policy was implemented, beginning with tweets from the president and then the subsequent formation of the DOD panel, “lend themselves to a showing that the decision was made and the panel was formed to justify and enforce that decision,” the court said. ... “By tweeting his decisions to the world, the president has, in fact, narrowed the focus of plaintiffs’ inquiries to the president himself,” the court said. “The presidential tweets put the president front and center as the discriminating official.” ... Joshua Block, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union who represents the plaintiffs, told Law360 Wednesday in a statement that Trump had ordered the DOD to rationalize his “discriminatory decision” to ban transgender people from military service. “Today’s ruling makes clear that the Trump administration cannot continue to hide the true reasons behind its crusade to purge transgender people from the military,” he said. “These brave men and women should be able to continue serving their country ably and honorably without being discriminated against by their own commander-in-chief." ... The case is Stone et al v. Trump et al, case number 1:17-cv-02459, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. ... https://ift.tt/2nKD36q (Note: paywall)
See this link: https://www.law360.com/employment/articles/1073258/trump-admin-can-t-shield-docs-in-trans-military-ban-suit?nl_pk=8a8ce1fc-75c7-4ce5-917e-8a07a0ec3dcd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=employment
