WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a legal victory for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, a federal appeals court on Friday threw out a lower court ruling that blocked a policy barring certain transgender people from serving in the U.S. armed forces, which the government said is important for military readiness.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a decision by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to block the Trump policy because it likely violates the constitutional rights of transgender recruits and service members.

The victory is limited. Although the appeals court sided with the administration, other federal courts issued injunctions against the policy, which applied nationwide. The administration already has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue. The high court is due to consider whether to hear three separate government appeals at its private conference on Jan. 11.

The various injunctions allowed transgender troops to join the ranks as of Jan. 1, 2018.

Trump announced on March 23 that he would endorse a plan by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to restrict the military service of transgender people who experience a condition called gender dysphoria.

The policy replaced an outright ban on transgender service members that Trump announced in July 2017 on Twitter, citing concern over military focus and medical costs.

The three-judge panel said in an unsigned opinion that District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was wrong to conclude that the new restrictions were essentially the same as the original ban, which she had also blocked.

“It was clear error to say there was no significant change,” the judges wrote in the ruling.

The new plan, for example, “appears to permit some transgender individuals to serve in the military consistent with established military mental health, physical health, and sex-based standards,” the court said.

The American Psychiatric Association defines gender dysphoria as a “clinically significant distress” due to a conflict between a person’s gender identity and their sex assigned at birth. Not all transgender people suffer from gender dysphoria, according to the association, which opposes a military ban.

Trump’s move reversed Democratic former President Barack Obama’s policy of allowing transgender troops to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders.