The Department of Justice said it would not appeal the rejection of its stay request in the transgender military case, however, officials told Fox News the DOJ was not abandoning the case, either.
A federal judge earlier this month rejected President Trump's call to delay the enlistment of transgender people in the military, setting a date of Jan. 1, 2018 by which the military must allow enlistment.
The DOJ says it is holding its appeal until the completion of a Department of Defense study that advocates maintain will aid litigation of the case on its merits.
"The Department of Defense has announced that it will be releasing an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks," the official told Fox News. "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 lawful authority in district court in the meantime."
Jake Gibson is a producer working at the Fox News Washington bureau who covers politics, law enforcement and intelligence issues.