Trump Fails to Stop Transgender Soldiers From Enlisting on January 1

In a statement released -- of all places -- to Buzzfeed on Friday night, the Justice Department announced that it will not demand that the Supreme Court fight President Obama's mandated January 1 deadline to allow transgender soldiers to enlist in the military.

"The Department of Defense has announced that it will be releasing an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks," Justice Department told Buzzfeed. "So rather than litigate this interim appeal before that occurs, the administration has decided to wait for DOD's study and will continue to defend the President's and Secretary of Defense's lawful authority in district court in the meantime."

While this doesn't mean that the battle against the president's July determination that that transgender soldiers were too much of a "burden" to be allowed to serve is over. Just last week, two U.S.. appeals courts blocked the Trump administration from extending the ban on transgender recruitment past January 1. For now, though, it looks like 2018 will kick off with a huge step forward for trans equality.