I really hope we get an explanation from SCOTUS on this. How the hell are they reconciling this decision with Bostock? Make it make sense. Of course it won't make sense, though. If we get it at all, the reasoning is likely to be the most baffling excuses based on convoluted technicalities imaginable. There is no justice for trans people today. And I think it's worth worrying about what the 9th Circuit will decide after their insane ruling on the Idaho bathroom ban. If this is a hint of how the top court will treat us, then judging by the length of time between the injunction and it getting overturned here, IF we get a class action passport injunction, I think it makes sense for us to act as quickly as possible in getting our passports corrected before that gets overturned too.
There is no “explanation” other than hate, bigotry, and discrimination. They do what the MAGAts want them to do. Period. No decision is made by this court with reason, precedence or Constitution when it comes to the rights of anything other than the power straight white men and their bootlickers.
I read the 40 or so pages of the ruling. Here is a summary.
Basically there has historically been a special exemption targeting the military. The court considers itself ill-fitted to judge actual military matters and defers judgment to the military itself. Through this, the military does not have to respect every constitutional provisions, particularly about non-discrimination, as long as it explicitly states that doing so would hurt military readiness or ability to perform in general.
Since the court won't challenge the claim of the military from a technical point of view, they can only challenge it from a rational basis. When they did so, they found that the policy did not target transgender people but people with gender dysphoria because not every people with gender dysphoria is transgender and not every transgender suffers from gender dysphoria in the sense of feeling particularly distressed by it. Since gender dysphoria is considered a disorder under the DSM, they can only presume it is rational to exclude people with that disorder, like other disorders are also excluded, from serving in the military.
The court further said that the ban was basically the same as the previous one and since it already allowed the previous one they didn't have to review this one again. In particular, neither ban violated the first amendment because requiring military personel to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex is a restriction on conduct, not on speech.
Then they went on to blame smaller courts for issuing a universal injunction to prevent the ban nationwide, saying they were harming democracy by opposing the President, who held the mandate of the people, and preventing the Department of Defense from making the changes it needed to ensure it's ability to protect the country. (See the first point where the court trusts the department's judgment on what the military needs.)
Not saying I agree with any of the above, it's merely a summary. My personal opinion is that they played all the cards they could to specifically NOT use their powers in this case. They basically said "we don't really want to be looking too much into this one so we'll trust the government and let it slide". Urgh.
If the Supreme Court won't even uphold the unconstitutionality of this ban, purely because it's about transgender people, we are in serious trouble. The highest court in this country still doesn't see us as people let alone citizens. That's what this means to me
Absolutely corrupt. This court was achieved by Trump with the explicit cooperation of the Republicans in the Senate. May every one of them burn in hell for their cowardice.
This is reminiscent of the “debate” around President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 to end segregation in the military. Army Chief of Staff General Omar Bradley argued that the military should not be used as an instrument of social change and that complete integration would affect morale and battle efficiency.
His civilian boss, Kenneth Royal, himself a retired general, claimed that integrating the force would affect enlistments and reenlistments, not only in the South, but in other parts of the country and would adversely impact the morale of the white soldiers. The Marine Corps refused to even enlist Black folks until 1942, and still maintained separate units by race.
The current fuss over transgender people is no different. I knew I was different, and kept it buried deep while in the military. I needed the income, the housing, and the training too badly to be out in any way. Now, trans folks serve at a rate about twice that of the general population. Until recently, a trans person enlisting was considered to be a homosexual by the military and many others, and was supposed to check THAT box on the paperwork. For decades, that of course meant that with the box checked we couldn’t enlist. The recruiter helpfully told us to check NO on all the little boxes on part of the paperwork or we would not be allowed to enlist, so of course, that’s what I did.
I didn’t think I was a homosexual. Heck, I liked girls. Being one on the inside didn’t change the accessories my body had, so I never thought of myself as being homosexual.
But, yes, I was trans, a worried girl afraid that others would see past my man suit and realize who I was. I thought of myself as ‘cured’ if only I could keep this side of me suppressed, and avoid these sinful thoughts of being myself. I tried to ‘man up.’
I worked very hard, as many trans military members do, and like many other trans folks, was an overachiever. I was in the Navy Nuclear Power Program, and I impressed the staff sufficiently that I was asked to stay on for two years as an instructor after I completed the Nuclear Power Schools. Following that tour, I was assigned to a submarine, the USS Parche, the most decorated boat in the fleet, and crewed by more overachievers. And yes, as I found out years later, that included several other trans folks. I racked up more awards, including the assorted medals, presidential and command citations. I finished the requirements for a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics. Besides my primary Engineering duties, I took on duties in the fire control tracking party, damage control party, and was assistant ship’s photographer, recording mission data and assembling media for reports to COMSUBPAC. I was the Engineering Dept 3M Coordinator, overseeing all maintenance and care for the nuclear power plant, engines and support systems.
Trans folks tend to be driven overachievers. (Just ask anyone who knows me…) We work hard to try and be accepted, far harder than those born with their assigned sex and gender identity in line, because we really do have something we need to prove.
So, here I am. Too strong to be allowed to play darts, disk golf, or soccer; too weak to be permitted in the military. Too dishonorable to serve my country.
That would explain the Presidential Unit Citations, the Navy Expeditionary Medals, the Sailor of the Quarter award, and the letter of commendation from the President of the United States.
There’s obviously no way I could lead an “honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle” as exemplified by Dear Imperious Leader. I’m better than that.
This will, in fact, HARM unit readiness, morale, and the loss of expertise and experience. But Trumpists don't care about that because the cruelty, as always, is the POINT.
It's nice to know that my 20 years spent in such garden spots as Korea, Okinawa, Twenty Nine Palms, and Camp Lejeune are now considered less than honorable. Funny, but I don't recall seeing Donald Trump, or JD Vance beside me in any of those locations. I guess I must have just missed them.
Painful to be objectified and dehumanized by SCOTUS. I ache fir my fellow trans members and stand in solidarity with them. May the protests continue to grow!
Taney wrote the majority opinion in the 1857 Dred Scott case, which denied the citizenship of Black Americans because they were never considered to be citizens in the Constitution.
So, yes, I agree that Roberts wants to “cuddle up” with Taney; a spineless excuse for a Supreme Court Justice.
Another dark day in America, among a year full of them. May their gods be real, so that they reap everything they sowed.
Good luck invoking martial law with our new and "improved", weak ass military 🫡 send the soldiers to our side, we'll need them 🫠
Hear, hear!
We anarchist’s will take all of them!
From Nate above:
“May their gods be real, so that they reap everything they sowed.”
Amen, Brother.
I prefer sister, and no two-bit wannabe dictatorship will every take that from me 🏳️⚧️
As you want it, it shall be.
Amen, Sister!
I really hope we get an explanation from SCOTUS on this. How the hell are they reconciling this decision with Bostock? Make it make sense. Of course it won't make sense, though. If we get it at all, the reasoning is likely to be the most baffling excuses based on convoluted technicalities imaginable. There is no justice for trans people today. And I think it's worth worrying about what the 9th Circuit will decide after their insane ruling on the Idaho bathroom ban. If this is a hint of how the top court will treat us, then judging by the length of time between the injunction and it getting overturned here, IF we get a class action passport injunction, I think it makes sense for us to act as quickly as possible in getting our passports corrected before that gets overturned too.
There is no “explanation” other than hate, bigotry, and discrimination. They do what the MAGAts want them to do. Period. No decision is made by this court with reason, precedence or Constitution when it comes to the rights of anything other than the power straight white men and their bootlickers.
I read the 40 or so pages of the ruling. Here is a summary.
Basically there has historically been a special exemption targeting the military. The court considers itself ill-fitted to judge actual military matters and defers judgment to the military itself. Through this, the military does not have to respect every constitutional provisions, particularly about non-discrimination, as long as it explicitly states that doing so would hurt military readiness or ability to perform in general.
Since the court won't challenge the claim of the military from a technical point of view, they can only challenge it from a rational basis. When they did so, they found that the policy did not target transgender people but people with gender dysphoria because not every people with gender dysphoria is transgender and not every transgender suffers from gender dysphoria in the sense of feeling particularly distressed by it. Since gender dysphoria is considered a disorder under the DSM, they can only presume it is rational to exclude people with that disorder, like other disorders are also excluded, from serving in the military.
The court further said that the ban was basically the same as the previous one and since it already allowed the previous one they didn't have to review this one again. In particular, neither ban violated the first amendment because requiring military personel to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex is a restriction on conduct, not on speech.
Then they went on to blame smaller courts for issuing a universal injunction to prevent the ban nationwide, saying they were harming democracy by opposing the President, who held the mandate of the people, and preventing the Department of Defense from making the changes it needed to ensure it's ability to protect the country. (See the first point where the court trusts the department's judgment on what the military needs.)
Not saying I agree with any of the above, it's merely a summary. My personal opinion is that they played all the cards they could to specifically NOT use their powers in this case. They basically said "we don't really want to be looking too much into this one so we'll trust the government and let it slide". Urgh.
Thank you for this summary. It helped.
If the Supreme Court won't even uphold the unconstitutionality of this ban, purely because it's about transgender people, we are in serious trouble. The highest court in this country still doesn't see us as people let alone citizens. That's what this means to me
SCOTUS is corrupt.
Absolutely corrupt. This court was achieved by Trump with the explicit cooperation of the Republicans in the Senate. May every one of them burn in hell for their cowardice.
This is reminiscent of the “debate” around President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 to end segregation in the military. Army Chief of Staff General Omar Bradley argued that the military should not be used as an instrument of social change and that complete integration would affect morale and battle efficiency.
His civilian boss, Kenneth Royal, himself a retired general, claimed that integrating the force would affect enlistments and reenlistments, not only in the South, but in other parts of the country and would adversely impact the morale of the white soldiers. The Marine Corps refused to even enlist Black folks until 1942, and still maintained separate units by race.
The current fuss over transgender people is no different. I knew I was different, and kept it buried deep while in the military. I needed the income, the housing, and the training too badly to be out in any way. Now, trans folks serve at a rate about twice that of the general population. Until recently, a trans person enlisting was considered to be a homosexual by the military and many others, and was supposed to check THAT box on the paperwork. For decades, that of course meant that with the box checked we couldn’t enlist. The recruiter helpfully told us to check NO on all the little boxes on part of the paperwork or we would not be allowed to enlist, so of course, that’s what I did.
I didn’t think I was a homosexual. Heck, I liked girls. Being one on the inside didn’t change the accessories my body had, so I never thought of myself as being homosexual.
But, yes, I was trans, a worried girl afraid that others would see past my man suit and realize who I was. I thought of myself as ‘cured’ if only I could keep this side of me suppressed, and avoid these sinful thoughts of being myself. I tried to ‘man up.’
I worked very hard, as many trans military members do, and like many other trans folks, was an overachiever. I was in the Navy Nuclear Power Program, and I impressed the staff sufficiently that I was asked to stay on for two years as an instructor after I completed the Nuclear Power Schools. Following that tour, I was assigned to a submarine, the USS Parche, the most decorated boat in the fleet, and crewed by more overachievers. And yes, as I found out years later, that included several other trans folks. I racked up more awards, including the assorted medals, presidential and command citations. I finished the requirements for a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics. Besides my primary Engineering duties, I took on duties in the fire control tracking party, damage control party, and was assistant ship’s photographer, recording mission data and assembling media for reports to COMSUBPAC. I was the Engineering Dept 3M Coordinator, overseeing all maintenance and care for the nuclear power plant, engines and support systems.
Trans folks tend to be driven overachievers. (Just ask anyone who knows me…) We work hard to try and be accepted, far harder than those born with their assigned sex and gender identity in line, because we really do have something we need to prove.
So, here I am. Too strong to be allowed to play darts, disk golf, or soccer; too weak to be permitted in the military. Too dishonorable to serve my country.
That would explain the Presidential Unit Citations, the Navy Expeditionary Medals, the Sailor of the Quarter award, and the letter of commendation from the President of the United States.
There’s obviously no way I could lead an “honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle” as exemplified by Dear Imperious Leader. I’m better than that.
Thank you for your commendable service.
My heart is aching right now.
This will, in fact, HARM unit readiness, morale, and the loss of expertise and experience. But Trumpists don't care about that because the cruelty, as always, is the POINT.
Yes, cruelty IS the point.
Precisely -- when it is not incompetence or greed. But usually it is a combination of all three.
There are a lot of attorneys such as me, with specialized training and military backgrounds, who will do all we can for transgender servicemembers.
It's nice to know that my 20 years spent in such garden spots as Korea, Okinawa, Twenty Nine Palms, and Camp Lejeune are now considered less than honorable. Funny, but I don't recall seeing Donald Trump, or JD Vance beside me in any of those locations. I guess I must have just missed them.
Painful to be objectified and dehumanized by SCOTUS. I ache fir my fellow trans members and stand in solidarity with them. May the protests continue to grow!
With liberty and justice for all…
*Except people called trans.
Roberts really wants to cuddle up next to Taney in the history books, doesn't he?
Taney wrote the majority opinion in the 1857 Dred Scott case, which denied the citizenship of Black Americans because they were never considered to be citizens in the Constitution.
So, yes, I agree that Roberts wants to “cuddle up” with Taney; a spineless excuse for a Supreme Court Justice.
Thanks! I didn’t recognize the name Taney right away. :)
Devastating news.
I’m so sorry, my heart breaks with you. I hate this court.
They will not defend rights for anyone who actually needs rights defended. It is a useless court.
If there is some kind of support network or person to help those impacted by this, could you please post? SPARTA maybe?
On top of the blatantly discriminatory language, framing this as a "national emergency" without any shred of data is beyond pathetic. F***all of them.