(Bloomberg) -- A federal judge ordered the U.S. military to allow HIV-positive service members to commission as officers, a career advancement that has long been blocked by policies barring such individuals from deploying overseas.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia on Wednesday granted a motion for summary judgment in the 2018 suit, handing victory to the plaintiff without trial. The same judge in 2018 denied the government’s motion to dismiss the case, ruling there was good cause to find the policy was discriminatory.

Nick Harrison, a Washington, D.C., National Guard Sergeant, claimed in the suit that the HIV policy violated of the equal protection clause of the Constitution by preventing him from becoming a military lawyer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

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The Secretary of Defense is “enjoined from denying the application of Nicholas Harrison and any other asymptomatic HIV-positive service member with an undetectable viral load to commission as officers because they are classified as ineligible for worldwide deployment,” Brinkema said.

The Defense Department didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

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