The Pentagon will appeal a federal judge’s decision to block the Trump administration’s ban on transgender troops, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday night.
Biden-appointed Washington, D.C., Judge Ana Reyes ruled the ban unconstitutionally discriminates on the basis of sex, saying it was “soaked in animus” and “dripping with pretext.”
“We are appealing this decision, and we will win,” Hegseth posted on X.
In her opinion, Reyes savaged the policy and issued an order that blocks the Defense Department from removing transgender service members from the military.
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“Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact,” she said.
“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.”
Reyes’ order gives the Trump administration until Friday to file an appeal.
“The ban at bottom invokes derogatory language to target a vulnerable group in violation of the Fifth Amendment,” Reyes said.
“The President has the power – indeed the obligation – to ensure military readiness,” she wrote in her 79-page opinion. “At times, however, leaders have used concern for military readiness to deny marginalized persons the privilege of serving.”
The Justice Department (DOJ) has filed a complaint against Reyes, accusing her of potential bias and misconduct.
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“This is the latest example of an activist judge attempting to seize power at the expense of the American people who overwhelmingly voted to elect President Trump,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “The Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump’s executive actions, including the Defending Women Executive Order, and will continue to do so.”
Around 4,200 service members, 0.2%, are transgender, according to DOD.
In a January executive order, President Donald Trump argued the Pentagon had been afflicted with “radical gender ideology”and 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.”
“The Armed Forces have been afflicted with radical gender ideology to appease activists unconcerned with the requirements of military service like physical and mental health, selflessness, and unit cohesion,” the executive order read.
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Service members filed suit when the Pentagon in February issued new policy guidance warning that transgender troops would be pushed out of the military. It had not yet forced any troops out, but encouraged them to voluntarily separate.
Reyes said plaintiffs “face a violation of their constitutional rights, which constitutes irreparable harm.”
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?”
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In 2016, a DOD policy permitted transgender people to serve openly in the military, but Trump, during his first term, reversed that order. The Supreme Court allowed that ban to take effect. President Joe Biden reversed the ban.
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Six service members and two people wanting to enlist in the military sued the government in January over Trump’s executive order. Later, about a dozen others, including nine on active duty, joined the suit.
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.”
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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