usdoj filed for an emergency stay with the d.c. circuit late on december 11, calling the accession of transgender individuals "a significant change to its standards for the composition of the armed forces" and asking that either secretary mattis be allowed to further defer the start of accessions, or ruling the scope of the preliminary injunction and clarifying order should narrowly apply only to the identified plaintiffs. in their response filed on december 15, plaintiffs noted "the government cannot credibly claim that it will be irreparably harmed by implementing a policy that it was on track to implement six months ago" and the "facially discriminatory ban on accession and service by transgender people serves no governmental interest sufficient to satisfy the fifth amendment, and the district court’s injunction barring its enforcement is [...] the ordinary remedy for unconstitutional government action".