1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,360 Speaker 1: Well, now it's time for our Bloomberg Law Report. Let's 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:05,520 Speaker 1: get to the legal stories we're watching this morning with 3 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:11,719 Speaker 1: Steve Podusc in the Bloomberg Washington Newsroom. President Trump plans 4 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: to sign a measure today to repeal the federal rule 5 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: that prevents financial firms from steering customer disputes into arbitration. 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 1: Both chambers of Congress have already approved the resolution blocking 7 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: the mandatory arbitration rule. House Republicans removed a provision from 8 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: their Children's Health Insurance Program funding bill that would have 9 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: raised Medicare premiums for high earning seniors, and the National 10 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: Football League says its fight to keep American commercials off 11 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,880 Speaker 1: Canadian televisions during the Super Bowl is far from over. 12 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Law everything you need, all on one legal research platform, 13 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: including guidance analysis and Bloomberg market Intelligence. Find out more 14 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: at Bloomberg law dot com. Now another legal news, Let's 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: examine a decision by a federal judge to block President 16 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: Trump's executive order banning transgender people from serving in a 17 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,319 Speaker 1: US military. For more on this story, Bloomberg Law host 18 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: Jum Grosso and Greg Sture speak with Catherine Frankie, a 19 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: professor at Columbia Law School, Catherine. The judge said that 20 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: there is absolutely no support that's a quote for the 21 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: Trump administration's claim that transgender people would have any negative 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 1: effect on the military. What kind of argument did the 23 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: administration make to her? Uh? Well, they made the kind 24 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: of arguments that one normally sees in military cases that 25 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: one should differ for national security reasons, and um, the 26 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: for the reasons that we quite often defer to military judgment. Um, 27 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: that the military knows best about readiness and cohesion and etcetera. Um. 28 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: And they actually didn't base the change in policy on 29 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: any studies, on any demand from anyone from within the 30 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: military that this policy be changed. Um. They their argument 31 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: was basically, we should respect the authority of the commander 32 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: in chief to change the policy if he wishes to. 33 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: What did Judge Colarketelli say about those arguments? How did 34 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: she get around this notion that generally we defer to 35 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 1: the commander in chief when we're talking about questions of 36 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: national security and military readiness. Um. What the court was 37 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: very concerned about was that there were kind of generalizations 38 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: about transgender people generally as a group, and that there 39 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: might be some possibility that they um would be mentally 40 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,920 Speaker 1: unstable and unable to serve. And the Court said that 41 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: you just you can't engage in those sorts of generalizations 42 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: um and be making change or changing policy so quickly 43 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: without having some sort of deliberative process. So the court 44 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: really summarily rejected every one of the government's arguments in 45 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,119 Speaker 1: this case. Catherine, did the judge take a not so 46 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: subtle swipe at Trump when she wrote that the changes 47 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: in transgender policy were driven by a desire to express 48 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: disapproval of transgender people generally. The Court said that as 49 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: this actually amounted to a form of sex disc emination, 50 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: not that it was just a swiper kind of gesture 51 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: of discrimination, but that it was discrimination, or at least 52 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,519 Speaker 1: that the trans people who were challenging the policy had 53 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: shown they had a substantial likelihood of prevailing on that question, 54 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:15,359 Speaker 1: of winning on that question. But what I thought was 55 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: amazing is the court's opinion actually reproduces screenshots of the 56 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: president's tweets, which is a fairly unusual thing to see 57 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: in a federal court opinion. And as Catherine Frankie, a 58 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: professor at Columbia Law School, speaking with Bloomberg, stoom Grosso 59 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: and Greg Sture. You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays 60 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: at one pm Wall Street Time here on Bloomberg Radio, 61 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: and find more legal news at Bloomberg law dot com. 62 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: Attorneys will find exceptional legal research and business development tools 63 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: there as well. Visit Bloomberg Law dot com for more information.