A federal judge sparred with the Justice Department over the breadth of President Trump’s executive order effectively barring transgender people from serving openly in the military during a contentious hearing Tuesday over whether to block the ban indefinitely.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes hammered the government over the sweeping order signed during Trump’s first week back in office, suggesting it amounted to “unadulterated animus” backed up by little evidence.
“We are dealing with the president of the United States calling a group of people who have served their country, who, you have told me, have made America safer, calling them liars,” Reyes, an appointee of former President Biden, told Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney Jason Lynch.
“This is a policy of the president of the United States that is affecting thousands of people, carte blanche, without any support that has been given by anyone,” Reyes added. “How is that anything other than showing animus?”
Reyes then directed Lynch to sit down, purporting she would ban all graduates of the University of Virginia School of Law — Lynch’s alma mater — from appearing before her because they’re “liars” and “lack integrity,” terms mimicking Trump’s executive order.
“Is that animus?” she asked, calling Lynch back to the podium.
The more than five-hour hearing, which is expected to resume Wednesday, addressed the scope of the president’s order as Reyes weighs whether to issue a preliminary injunction while litigation continues.
Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order argues that transgender people are not able to “satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service” and allowing them to serve threatens the lethality of the armed forces and undermines unit cohesion, an argument that has long been used to keep marginalized communities from serving.
A 2016 RAND Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon found that allowing trans people to serve in the military had no negative impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness or readiness. The transgender military advocacy group SPARTA Pride has estimated between 15,000 and 25,000 transgender troops are currently serving, accounting for a small fraction of the entire armed services.
Lynch argued Tuesday that Trump’s executive order is not self-executing and did not immediately prevent transgender people from serving. Instead, he said, it directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue guidance on how to implement the order within 30 days.
Until it’s clear the transgender service members challenging the order in court will be affected by Hegseth’s forthcoming guidance, they should not be allowed to seek relief, Lynch contended.
“All they’ve said is, ‘Hold on, wait, there’s more guidance coming,’” Lynch said.
Six active service members and two individuals seeking to enlist in the military sued the Trump administration late last month over the order, which they said violates their constitutional rights. Another seven transgender service members, backed by two LGBTQ civil rights organizations, are challenging the order in a separate lawsuit filed earlier this month in Washington sate.
Reyes seemed inclined to wait until the 30-day period ends before issuing a comprehensive order on a preliminary injunction, given the clock runs out in just over a week. However, she signaled skepticism over the government’s argument that the guidance might not ultimately effectuate a ban.
“If we had President Trump here right now and I said to him, ‘Is this a transgender ban?’ you know what he would say?” Reyes asked. “I do: He’d say it was a transgender ban.”
Hegseth moved to implement Trump’s order earlier this month, directing military leaders in a Feb. 7 memo to pause accepting recruits with histories of gender dysphoria and suspend gender-affirming medical care for current service members.
From its verified X account on Friday, the U.S. Army said it “will no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military.”
Lynch, when asked by Reyes about the Army’s post, said he hadn’t seen it, adding that it was “published by who knows who.”
The DOJ lawyer later said the Army had clarified its position in a follow-up post uploaded roughly two hours after the original, which quoted Hegseth’s Feb. 7 memo stating accessions for people with a history of gender dysphoria and medical procedures affirming or facilitating gender transition for service members would be immediately “paused.”
The Air Force and Navy similarly advised recruiters this month to pause accepting transgender people seeking to enlist.
“It doesn’t say no transgender person may accede,” Lynch said Tuesday, pointing specifically to the Navy’s recruiting command memo. “It says pause.”
“There’s language in there about what to send to a putative enlistee into the Navy, and it says, ‘Stay in touch with your recruiter,’” he added. “Why would they do that if there’s a categorical ban in place today?”
Reyes, however, said Trump’s order is “not ambiguous” in its assessment of transgender Americans’ fitness to serve in the military.
“It’s not ‘usually can’t’ or ‘probably can’t’ or ‘almost always can’t,’” Reyes said. “It’s ‘can’t.’”
The judge noted that Trump provided no evidence in his order to back up his claims that “radical gender ideology” has “afflicted” the armed forces. She also questioned the lack of evidence that pronoun usage aligned with a person’s gender identity has affected military service — which, if it had, would suggest the military is “incompetent,” she said.
“Because it doesn’t,” Reyes said. “Because any common-sense, rational human being knows that it doesn’t.”
Though most of the hearing focused on the government’s arguments, Reyes began questioning lawyers for the service members about the importance of maintaining deference to the military, particularly on medical issues.
The judge said the hearing would resume Wednesday and that another would be scheduled for March 3, after Hegseth’s guidance is due.
