President Trump surprised the nation on the morning of July 26 when he announced on Twitter he was banning transgender people from serving "in any capacity" in the military. He wrote that the armed forces "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."



The tweets alarmed transgender troops around the country, who'd been blindsided by the news, and the tweets themselves quickly became central to several lawsuits. The troops argued Trump's tweets, and his memorandum to the Pentagon one month later, violated their constitutional rights to due process and failed to follow proper rulemaking procedures.

A federal judge in Washington, DC, agreed with the troops in October, halting most of Trump's ban. Then on Tuesday, another federal judge in a parallel lawsuit in Maryland halted Trump's policy completely.

US District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis took particular aim at Trump's tweets in a 53-page ruling.