The order comes after a five-hour-long chaotic hearing last week
Your support helps us to tell the story
Support Now
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to reinstate all transgender service members in all U.S. military branches after a lawsuit challenged his sweeping command to effectively remove transgender troops.
In a loss for the Trump administration, Tuesday’s order, from District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocks the president’s ban as well as a Pentagon memo with additional guidance. She gave the administration until March 21 at 10 a.m. to appeal. One minute after that deadline, the order will automatically take effect, she said.
“The effect of the Court’s Order is to maintain the status quo of military policy regarding transgender service that existed immediately before” Trump issued his executive order, Reyes wrote.
The president’s January directive claims the “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.”
A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s transgender military ban
A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s transgender military ban (AFP via Getty Images)
The judge also ordered the Trump administration to maintain and continue the military statuses of the 20 plaintiffs, a group that includes decorated U.S. military service members across all branches.
The plaintiffs’ service records are “remarkable,” Reyes said at last Wednesday’s hearing. “You’re going to get rid of all these very qualified people who the military has spent millions of dollars into training specialized jobs for no other reason than they have had gender dysphoria or they transition.”
The decision to grant the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction comes one week after a chaotic hearing in which the Department of Justice lawyers got tangled up by the judge’s questioning. She poked holes in the data included in the Department of Defense’s memo, asked simple questions about the scope of the ban which the government lawyers failed to answer, and scolded the attorneys for their lack of preparedness.
The Pentagon guidance from last month says “the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have 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.”
Jennifer Levi, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said at last week’s her clients were seeking an injunction because these directives “question their integrity.” Levi added: “What service members rest upon is other people's faith and confidence and belief in them, and that to continue to serve under an order that deems them unfit for service because of who they are and irreparably harms them in multiple ways.”
During a hearing in February, Reyes remarked on the ban’s “demeaning,” “biologically inaccurate” and “frankly ridiculous” language. She suggested that, taken together, Trump’s executive orders against trans people “scream animus,” or motivated by prejudice.