A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden has stopped President Donald Trump’s executive order from banning transgender people from serving in the US military.
Washington, D.C., US District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Pentagon from enforcing Trump’s orders, arguing that “expressing violations from an individual’s gender cannot meet the strict standards required for military service.” The order issued on January 27th directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to update the health standards for military service and pronoun policies, saying that “beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, and that it contradicts gender with perverse gender identity, over the adoption of sexual conflicts of an individual and contradictory gender with honor, truth, and discretionary lifestyle.”
Reyes said the executive order is likely to result in constitutional rights violations.
“The courts know that this opinion leads to intense public debate and appeal. In a healthy democracy, both are positive consequences,” Reyes wrote, delaying the order until Friday morning, giving the Trump administration time to appeal. “But we should all agree that everyone who answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect.”
The VA has withdrawn its 2018 directive on transgender treatment and is working with Trump’s “two genders”
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order banning transgender forces. (Get McNamee/Getty Images)
Transgender individuals were thought to be unsuitable for US military service until DOD changed policies during former President Barack Obama’s second term.
In her 79-page ruling, Reyes cites Lynn Manuel Miranda’s musical “Hamilton” to justify justifications that would hinder the ban on transgender forces.
“Women were “included in the sequel” when the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 granted them the right to vote,” Reyes wrote in a footnote, adding, “that right is one of many who can help thousands of trans people protect them.”
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Reyes said the plaintiffs “facing a violation of their constitutional rights that constitute irreparable harm.”
“Indeed, the cruel irony is that thousands of transgender soldiers have sacrificed a very equal right of protection that the ban attempts to deny them.
“A district court judge has now condemned Reyes’ ruling against X, which found they were in command of the military,” said Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at White House.
Reyes was the second judge of the day against the Trump administration. Trump has raised a rare responsibilities from Secretary John Roberts, seeking to fire each third judge who temporarily blocked deportation flights.
Transgender people talk to US military veterans and supporters to protest the Trump administration outside the Indiana Capitol in Indianapolis. (Jeremy Hogan/Sopa Images/Light Rocket via Getty Images)
Transgender seafarers, Marines voluntarily provided benefits to quit their services or being forced out of their faces
“The unelected Judge Rogue is trying to steal years of time from four years of time. It’s the worst theft I can imagine. It takes American votes and voices,” Miller wrote in another X-post.
In response to Trump’s executive order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses issued a policy on February 26 that likely disqualifies people with gender discomfort from military service. The policy states that “gender discomfort is incompatible with the high mental and physical standards required for military service,” as it is currently diagnosed or history or showing a consistent condition.
The plaintiff’s lawyers argue that Trump’s order violates the rights of trans people to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.
Government lawyers argue that military officials have broad discretion to determine how to allocate and deploy service members without judicial interference.
Jennifer Levy, senior director of queer and transgender rights, will speak on February 18, 2025, outside of federal court in Washington, D.C. A group of transgender service members and prospective participants called for a temporary injunction against President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender forces. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Reyes said she did not underestimate her decision to issue an injunction that would interfere with Trump’s orders, noting that “judicial overreach is no less than an enforcement overview.” However, she said it is also the responsibility of each branch of the government to provide checks and balances to others, and the courts must “act to support the equal protection rights that the military defends every day.”
Thousands of transgender people serve in the military, accounting for less than 1% of the total number of active service members, according to the Associated Press.
In 2016, DOD policy allowed trans people to openly serve the military. During Trump’s first term, he issued an order to ban trans service members. The Supreme Court has allowed the ban to come into effect.
Biden, a Democrat who served as Obama’s vice president, scrapped it when he took office.
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Six service members and two who wish to join the military sued the government over Trump’s executive order in January. Approximately 12 others, including nine active members, participated in the lawsuit. Their lawyers said at the Center for the National Lesbian Rights and Welcome Law Centre, that the transgender forces “seek opportunities to devote their lives to defending their nation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Daniel Wallace is a news and political reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and to X:@danimwallace.
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