The Department of Justice has voluntarily withdrawn appeals in three cases in which the Pentagon was ordered to allow transgender recruits starting on Monday, January 1.

The Justice Department sought to delay the start date, but three district courts and two appeals courts refused to grant stays.

Judges in four cases challenging President Donald Trump's ban on transgender troops have unanimously ruled against implementation of the president's policy. On Friday, the department announced it would not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and the Pentagon confirmed that the military will, as of Monday, allow qualified transgender individuals to enlist in the military.

A DOJ official told the Washington Blade that it would continue to litigate the matter after the Pentagon releases its study on transgender service.

“The Department of Defense [DOD] has announced that it will be releasing an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks,” the official said. “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.”

In July, Trump tweeted his call for a complete ban on transgender troops. Roughly a month later, the White House issued guidance on implementing Trump's ban, in which Trump claims that the Obama administration “failed to identity a sufficient basis” to end the military ban – which was rolled back in June, 2016 – and orders the Pentagon to reinstate the policy, arguing that transgender people are a “disruption” to the military.

Shannon Minter, legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), one of the groups fighting the ban, called the announcement a “great news for transgender troops, transgender military academy and ROTC students, and transgender people who have been waiting to enlist.”

“Transgender people are part of this country, and their willingness to take on the hardships and sacrifices of military service should be honored, not banned,” Minter said in a statement.