On January 27, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order stating that individuals “expressing a false gender identity” do not meet the standards for military service, and that “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.”
According to the order, the pursuit of those standards cannot be “diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion.” The order directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth within 60 days to end what it called “invented and identification-based pronoun usage” that inaccurately reflects an individual’s sex.
The order also requires stricter separation between male and female service members in sleeping, changing clothes, and bathing, noted the Epoch Times in its coverage of the order.
Six “transgender” service members quickly filed suit and surprise, surprise found the case assigned to DC federal district Judge Ana Reyes, a Uruguayan-born lawyer nominated to the position by President Joe Biden. Reyes is “both the first Latina and the first openly LGBT person to serve as a district court judge in Washington, D.C.”
Judge Reyes is still hearing arguments in the case but signaled deep skepticism with the claim that transgender service members lessen the military’s lethality or readiness.
“You and I both agree that the greatest fighting force that world history has ever seen is not going to be impacted in any way by less than 1% of the soldiers using a different pronoun than others might want to call them. Would you agree with that?” Judge Reyes asked during a hearing this morning.
“No, Your Honor, I'm not. I can't agree with that,” a lawyer for the Department of Justice responded, according to ABC News reports.
In the course of the hearing Judge Reyes repeatedly browbeat and disrespected the Department of Justice lawyers arguing on behalf of the government.
In two instances, reported by the Epoch Times, Reyes questioned the attorney about his religious beliefs and used him “unwillingly as a physical prop” in a rhetorical exercise during the hearing.
In the first instance, Reyes asked the lawyer what he believed “Jesus would say to telling a group of people that they are so worthless, so worthless that we’re not going to allow them into homeless shelters.”
Reyes also used the inappropriate abbreviation “WTF” when questioning the lawyer on his religious beliefs, saying that it demonstrated the judge’s lack of professional decorum.
The second instance involved Reyes physically directing the lawyer as part of “a rhetorical exercise” during an exchange about discrimination. In a hypothetical scenario, Reyes instructed the attorney to sit down because she decided to bar graduates of the University of Virginia Law School from her courtroom because “they’re all liars and lack integrity.”
Judge Reye’s outrageous behavior prompted Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle, to file an ethics complaint against Judge Reyes.
Mizelle said the question itself was problematic because it was irrelevant to the legal analysis of military policy and placed the lawyer in an “untenable position” to answer.
He commended the lawyer for his professional response to Reyes, as the lawyer answered: “The United States is not going to speculate about what Jesus would have to say about anything.”
In his complaint Mizelle requested that appropriate action be taken to address the alleged violations and ensure future hearings are conducted with “dignity and impartiality.” He called for an investigation into the incidents to determine whether Reyes engaged in misconduct.
Judge Reyes is widely assumed to be ready to issue an injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from enforcing the Executive Order setting up a likely constitutional showdown in the Supreme Court over the extent of the President’s Article II power as Commander-in Chief.
2024 Election
MAGA Agenda
DOGE
Department of Government Efficiency
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle
Attorney General Pam Bondi
Transgenders in the military
Trump Administration
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Judge Ana Reyes
LGBTQ agenda
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