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From the Wall Street Journal: A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday blocked the Pentagon from implementing President Trump’s executive order that excludes transgender individuals from serving openly in the military, the latest legal setback for Trump as he tries to carry out one of his core policy priorities.
Judge Ana Reyes said Trump’s executive order was likely unconstitutional. The White House in January directed the military to adopt a policy that said transgender individuals are unable to meet the “high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity.”
Reyes, a Biden appointee, ruled the Trump administration’s new military guidelines likely violated constitutional rights to equal protection, overstepping the authority of the White House and the Defense Department to set military policy. She ruled that the barriers to transgender service members are based solely on demeaning and stigmatizing feelings against them, not a solid policy decision that could have legal support.
“Indeed, the cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed—some risking their lives—to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them,” Reyes wrote in a 79-page memo accompanying her ruling. “The Court’s opinion is long, but its premise is simple. In the self-evident truth that ‘all people are created equal,’ all means all. Nothing more. And certainly nothing less.”
BACKGROUND ON THE JUDGE: Judge Ana Reyes, aged 50 or 51, was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1974 and immigrated to the United States as a young child. She is openly lesbian.
In 2018, while still working as a lawyer, Reyes was part of a legal team who challenged the Trump administration’s rule that made illegal aliens crossing the border outside a port of entry ineligible for asylum. When a federal judge struck down the rule in 2019, Reyes cheered, saying, “The ruling is a victory for refugees who want to live safely with their families.”
Reyes was nominated by Joe Biden in April 2022 to serve as a judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, having been recommended for the position by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. She was confirmed by the Senate in a February 2023, and became the first Hispanic woman and openly LGBTQ person to serve as a district court judge in Washington, D.C.
In January 2024, Reyes did sentence former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn to prison for leaking Donald Trump’s tax returns to the media, slapping him with a 5-year prison sentence, which was 6 times longer than the recommended sentence.
After the ruling was issue Tuesday night, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele warned, “The U.S. is facing a judicial coup.”
Elon Musk agreed, writing, “1000%.”
1000% https://t.co/8zCPDsZK0S
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2025
A federal judge blocks President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from military service.
The judge 👇 pic.twitter.com/7pgBB6yInW
— Alaska (@Alaska0420) March 19, 2025
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk wrote, “Now, a district court judge ordering the US military to continue enlisting mentally delusional transgender troops is justifying her ruling by quoting the musical Hamilton. We either have a presidency or we have a rule by 677 gavel-wielding dictators. The Supreme Court must put these judges in place.”
Now, a district court judge ordering the US military to continue enlisting mentally delusional transgender troops is justifying her ruling by quoting the musical Hamilton.
We either have a presidency or we have a rule by 677 gavel-wielding dictators. The Supreme Court must put… pic.twitter.com/M8nJCnkh7T
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 19, 2025
Margot Cleveland of The Federalist wrote:
Today alone 4 federal judges ordered:
a) Elon Musk to reinstate USAID workers;
b) Trump to state disclose when/where flights left w/ terrorists;
c) reinstatement of transgender to military;
d) reinstatement of Dep’t of Education grants.
Today alone 4 federal judges ordered:
a) Elon Musk to reinstate USAID workers;
b) Trump to state disclose when/where flights left w/ terrorists;
c) reinstatement of transgender to military;
d) reinstatement of Dep’t of Education grants.— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) March 19, 2025
Trump advisor Jason Miller blasted the ruling, writing, “President Trump earned 77.3M votes, 312 electoral votes, swept the battleground states & won the popular vote. He earned a mandate for change. These “Resistance Judges” are a threat to Democracy.”
President Trump earned 77.3M votes, 312 electoral votes, swept the battleground states & won the popular vote.
He earned a mandate for change.
These “Resistance Judges” are a threat to Democracy.
“Judge Blocks Policy That Would Expel Transgender Troops” https://t.co/1Y0KbKjsrS
— Jason Miller (@JasonMiller) March 19, 2025
This D.C. District Judge just indefinitely blocked President Trump’s transgender military ban.
– Appointed by Biden
– Lesbian
– Immigrant from Uruguay
– Worked for the Center for Gender and Refugee StudiesIGNORE and proceed. pic.twitter.com/F5HSYJyGcr
— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) March 19, 2025
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