Second judge blocks Donald Trump's transgender military ban

A second US judge has blocked President Donald Trump's bid to ban transgender people from serving in the country's military.

Mr Trump's decision - announced via Twitter back in July - was the subject of widespread condemnation, with campaigners describing it as a "shocking and ignorant attack".

The ban - which the President said would spare the military from the burden of "tremendous medical costs and disruption" - was first blocked by a federal judge in Washington last month, and on Tuesday a district judge in Maryland followed suit.

Baltimore Judge Marvin Garbis ruled that Mr Trump's ban "likely amounts to unconstitutional discrimination".

He said it "lacked justification" and "cannot possibly constitute a legitimate governmental interest".

The two judges' decisions come after several service members - represented by the American Civil Liberties Union - filed a lawsuit in August in the belief that the ban violated their constitutional rights to due process and equal protection.

Despite the backlash, Mr Trump directed the armed forces not to accept transgender people as recruits and stopped the use of government funds for sex-reassignment surgeries for active-duty personnel, unless the process was already under way.

The memo called on Defence Secretary James Mattis to submit a plan to President by February on how to implement the changes, and the Pentagon has created a panel of senior officials for that purpose.

In the meantime, the current policy of allowing transgender people to serve remains in place.

Allowing transgender people to serve in the military is one of a number of Obama-era policies Mr Trump has sought to overturn, including a ban on hunters being able to bring back elephants killed in Zimbabwe as trophies.

Mr Trump delayed the lifting of the ban following a barrage of criticism last week, writing on Twitter that he first wanted to "review all conservation facts".