Federal judge blocks Trump’s transgender military executive order

A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden has blocked President Donald Trump's executive order banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military. 

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction barring the Pentagon from enforcing Trump's order, which asserted "expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service." The order, issued Jan. 27, instructed the Department of Defense (DOD) to update its medical standards for military service and pronoun policies, stating that "beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life." 

Reyes said that the executive order likely poses constitutional rights violations. 

"The court knows that this opinion will lead to heated public debate and appeals. In a healthy democracy, both are positive outcomes," Reyes wrote, delaying her order until Friday morning to allow time for the Trump administration to appeal. "We should all agree, however, that every person who has answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect."

VA RESCINDS 2018 DIRECTIVE ON TRANSGENDER TREATMENTS, ALIGNING WITH TRUMP 'TWO SEXES' EO

Transgender individuals were considered unfit for U.S. military service until the DOD changed its policy during former President Barack Obama's second term. 

In her 79-page ruling, Reyes in part cites Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical "Hamilton" to justify blocking the ban on transgender troops. 

"Women were ‘included in the sequel’ when passage of the Nineteenth Amendment granted them the right to vote in 1920," Reyes wrote in the footnotes, adding, "That right is one of the many that thousands of transgender persons serve to protect."

READ THE JUDGE'S ORDER – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:

Reyes said plaintiffs "face a violation of their constitutional rights, which constitutes irreparable harm." 

"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," the judge wrote, adding that the defendants, on the other hand, "have not shown they will be burdened by continuing the status quo pending this litigation, and avoiding constitutional violations is always in the public interest." 

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller condemned Reyes' ruling on X, writing, "District court judges have now decided they are in command of the Armed Forces…is there no end to this madness?" 

Reyes was the second judge of the day to rule against the Trump administration. Trump called for impeaching a third judge who temporarily blocked deportation flights, drawing a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.

TRANSGENDER SAILORS, MARINES OFFERED BENEFITS TO VOLUNTARILY LEAVE SERVICE OR FACE BEING KICKED OUT

"Unelected rogue judges are trying to steal years of time from a 4 year term. It’s the most egregious theft one can imagine: robbing the vote and voice of the American People," Miller wrote in another X post. 

In response to Trump's executive order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy on Feb. 26 that presumptively disqualifies people with gender dysphoria from military service. The policy says, "a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service."

Plaintiffs’ attorneys contend Trump’s order violates transgender people’s rights to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.

Government lawyers argue that military officials have broad discretion to decide how to assign and deploy service members without judicial interference.

Reyes said she did not take lightly her decision to issue an injunction blocking Trump’s order, noting that "Judicial overreach is no less pernicious than executive overreach." However, she said, it was also the responsibility of each branch of government to provide checks and balances for the others, and the court "therefore must act to uphold the equal protection rights that the military defends every day."

Thousands of transgender people serve in the military, but they represent less than 1% of the total number of active-duty service members, according to The Associated Press. 

In 2016, a DOD policy permitted transgender people to serve openly in the military. During Trump’s first term, he issued a directive to ban transgender service members. The Supreme Court allowed the ban to take effect. 

Biden, a Democrat who served as Obama's vice president, scrapped it when he took office.

Six service members and two people wanting to enlist in the military sued the government in January over Trump’s executive order. About a dozen others, including nine people on active duty, have since joined the lawsuit. Their attorneys, from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLAD Law, said transgender troops "seek nothing more than the opportunity to continue dedicating their lives to defending the Nation."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Obama officials, Trump critics target Hegseth’s Ukraine ‘concessions’ as ‘biggest gift’ to Russia

Obama officials and Trump critics are up in arms after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a return to the Eastern European country's pre-war borders with Russia is "unrealistic." 

Hegseth, speaking to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Belgium on Wednesday, said "returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective." He also called for Europe to offer Ukraine security guarantees after the war – not the U.S. 

Trump administration critics accused the secretary of giving up leverage before the start of peace negotiations with Russia. 

"Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more," Brett Bruen, director of Global Engagement under the Obama White House, told Fox News Digital. 

RUSSIAN MISSILES RAINED DOWN ON KYIV JUST AHEAD OF TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT'S VISIT

Hegseth said Wednesday that "durable peace" for Ukraine must "ensure that the war will not begin again."

"The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops," he said. 

"If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and not covered under Article 5. There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact. To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine."

While it is little surprise the Trump administration does not currently support Ukraine’s NATO membership, or believe Ukraine can take back all of its territory including Crimea, critics argue that Hegseth vocalizing these beliefs just as President Donald Trump fired the opening salvo in peace negotiations took them off the table as leverage. 

"Why would you unilaterally surrender on some of those key strategic issues? Even if Trump ultimately wants to give ground, at least get something in return," Bruen said. 

‘NO BETRAYAL’ IN TRUMP MOVE TOWARD UKRAINE WAR NEGOTIATIONS, HEGSETH SAYS

"Anyone with any diplomatic experience would have said it is critical that we use this as part of our negotiation, as President Trump wants to have with Moscow. But the idea that we're simply going to announce all of the things that we are not going to do goes against 70 years of our diplomacy and our military strategy." 

Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, asked why the Trump administration appeared to be giving Russian President Vladimir Putin wins for free. 

"Why is the Trump administration giving Putin gifts – Ukrainian land and no NATO membership for Ukraine – before negotiations even begin?" he asked on X. "I've negotiated with the Russians. You never give up anything to them for free."

Alexander Vindman, a Trump impeachment witness and former Europe director at the National Security Council – who continues to be a fierce Trump critic – characterized Hegseth's comments as "complete capitulation to Putin" that justifies Russia's wars of aggression going back to Georgia in 2008.

"This will embolden Putin and undermine the interests of peace in Ukraine and Europe. A major blow to U.S. national security," Vindman asserted.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., chimed in that Hegseth's comments show, "Trump's foreign policy has always been Russia First. Never America and its allies first." 

The defense secretary also called on Europe to "take ownership of conventional security on the continent."

HEGSETH WARNS EUROPEANS 'REALITIES' OF CHINA AND BORDER THREATS PREVENT US FROM GUARANTEEING THEIR SECURITY

"European allies must lead from the front," Hegseth said. "Together, we can establish a division of labor that maximize our comparative advantages in Europe and Pacific, respectively."

His comments came just before Trump called both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv. 

On Friday, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. 

The Putin conversation came one day after the release of American Marc Fogel, who had been detained by the Kremlin, which Trump said he saw as a sign of "good faith" by the Russians. 

Trump, meanwhile, has begun pressuring Ukrainians to turn over access to rare Earth minerals in exchange for security aid. Bessent presented Ukraine with a draft deal exchanging aid for minerals on Wednesday in Kyiv, according to Zelenskyy. 

"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations," Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday of his call with Putin. "We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately." 

He announced that he would asked Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to lead negotiations. 

Trump also said his call with Zelenskyy went "very well." 

"​​It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!"