A federal judge on Wednesday shredded DOJ lawyers and ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue a written retract over a transgender troops article he posted on X.
US District Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden appointee, blasted DOJ lawyers during Wednesday’s hearing on President Trump’s executive order on transgender troops.
In January President Trump signed the “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” executive order and the “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” executive orders, which direct every element of the U.S. military to “operate free from any preference based on race or sex” and root out gender insanity and made up pronoun usage, respectively.
Last month Judge Reyes signaled she would side with a group of transgender soldiers who sued to block President Trump’s executive order on transgender troops.
Judge Reyes grilled DOJ lawyers last month and said that Trump’s executive order asserting there are only two genders is “not biologically correct.”
“With the DOD policy expected to be finalized over the coming week, Reyes said she would hold off on issuing an order but had largely made up her mind about the legality of the order, at one point remarking that “smarter people on the D.C. Circuit would have to tell me I’m wrong” about the policy. She added that the central premise of the executive order — that only two genders exist — is “not biologically correct.”” – ABC News reported last month.
The activist judge blasted the DOJ lawyers and asked them if they knew how much the military spends on Viagra every year compared to gender dysphoria treatment.
This has nothing to do with combat readiness. The judge has already made up her mind.
DOJ lawyer Jason Manion pointed out that we don’t know how many people we’re talking about for each side of the argument, and it could be that the treatment for gender dysphoria is much more expensive, it could be just a matter of much fewer people receiving the treatment.
— Jake Gibson (@JakeBGibson) March 12, 2025
Judge Reyes gave Hegseth until Monday to issue a written retraction over his post that stated, “Pentagon says transgender troops are disqualified from service without an exemption”
“Pentagon says transgender troops are disqualified from service without an exemption” https://t.co/VGa16iZKqf
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) February 27, 2025
Excerpt from Fox News:
A federal judge tore into lawyers from the Justice Department on Wednesday, homing in on a retweet from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth about disqualifying transgender troops from service “without an exemption.”
During the hearing, Reyes pointed to a post on X in which Hegseth quoted, “Pentagon says transgender troops are disqualified from service without an exemption.” The post in question linked to a Fox News Digital article about an internal Pentagon memo.
The memo, revealed in a court filing late last month, says U.S. service members who are transgender or otherwise exhibit gender dysphoria are prohibited from military service unless they obtain an exemption.
When Reyes questioned government lawyers that Hegseth’s repost made it appear that all transgender troops would be disqualified from service, DOJ lawyer Jason Manion argued that Hegseth was only using “shorthand” for the broader policy.
“Look at the words in the policy,” said Manion.
“No!” said Reyes. “Do you really think you can do that, say one thing in public and then come here to court and say something else entirely?”
Judge Reyes has a history of abusing Trump’s DOJ lawyers.
Last month, the Justice Department filed a formal complaint against a federal judge assigned to Trump’s executive order on transgender troops for engaging in “egregious misconduct” toward its counsel.
The Justice Department detailed Judge Reyes’ shocking statements toward its attorneys in last month’s hearing.
“During these hearings, Judge Reyes engaged in hostile and egregious misconduct that violates Canons 2A and 3A(3) of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, which requires judges to “act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary” and “be patient, dignified, respectful, and courteous to litigants,” the DOJ wrote in a complaint against Judge Reyes.
The DOJ detailed two incidents of abuse of its attorneys.
The Justice Department said during her lecture on the “30 different intersex examples,” Judge Reyes grilled one of its lawyers about his religious beliefs and then used him unwillingly as a “physical prop in her courtroom theatrics,” the DOJ wrote.
The DOJ asked that “appropriate action be taken to address” the violations and requested an investigation.