Federal Judge Blasts DOJ and Orders Written Retraction From Hegseth Over Military Transgender Post

On Wednesday, the federal judge ripped into Justice Department lawyers for retweeting a tweet from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth regarding disqualifying “transgender” troops from military service without an exemption.

Trans rights groups are seeking a pre-injunction against the Pentagon policy that bans transgender people from joining the military. Judge Ana Reyes is a Biden appointment who has previously said the concept of two sexes was not “biologically accurate.”

During the hearing, Reyes referred to a post in X where Hegseth was quoted as saying, “Pentagon states that transgender soldiers are not eligible for service without an exception.”

According to the memo, which was revealed by a court document filed late last month, U.S. military members who exhibit gender dysphoria or are transgender are not allowed to serve unless an exemption is obtained.

Reyes aggressively questioned DOJ attorneys on Wednesday, saying that Major Talbott is one of the defendants and has more commendations in our library than the books we have. She asked her why she would side with Hegseth, who, she claimed, had been in his position for only 30 days.

Reyes stated that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs determined there wouldn’t be any problem in troop cohesion due to transgender individuals.

Jason Manion, a DOJ attorney, said, “You are to defer to Secretary Hegseth.”

Reyes retorted that Secretary Hegseth made his decision based on two studies, which “undercut” the policy of Reyes. We haven’t yet even touched on the subject of animus.

When the DOJ lawyers couldn’t answer, she told them that in 2024, the U.S. military will spend $42 million on Viagra. She told the DOJ lawyers that the U.S. Military spent $42,000,000 on Viagra by 2024, compared to $52,000,000 spent over ten years on treatment for gender dysphoria.

Manion said that they did not know the number of people involved in each argument. It could have been that treatment for gender dysphoria was more expensive or that fewer people were receiving it. Reyes said that he agreed but stated that the Defense Department spent much more money on Viagra treatment than it did for gender dysphoria.

Manion, when she asked government lawyers if Hegseth had meant to imply that all Transgender soldiers would be banned from serving, argued that Hegseth only used “shorthand”, which was the policy in general.

Manion said, “Look carefully at the language in the policy.”

“No!” said Reyes. “Do you really think you can do that, say one thing in public and then come here to court and say something else entirely?”

Reyes then said that Manion had until Monday to deliver a declaration from Hegseth that he didn’t mean all transgender people.

His words were that it covered all transgenders. Reyes stated, “I’m not going to speculate that he was just being careless.”

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 27, requiring the Defense Department to update its guidelines regarding “transidentifying medical standards” for military service and “rescinding guidance inconsistent with military readiness”.

Lawyers for the government have claimed that Trump and Hegseth are in a position to make broad decisions about national defense.

Around 4,240 servicemen and women, including active, reserve, guard and Guard, were diagnosed with gender identity disorder in December.