President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning transgender troops. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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."
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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.
Senior Director of Queer and Transgender Rights Jennifer Levi speaks outside a Washington, D.C., federal courthouse on Feb. 18, 2025. A group of transgender service members and prospective enlistees requested a preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump's ban on transgender troops. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
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.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-judge-blocks-trumps-transgender-military-executive-order