President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are pictured here. The Defense Department's ban on transgender people serving in the military is scheduled to take effect Friday. (Getty Images)
Reyes gave the government a 3 p.m. deadline that same day to return about her request to push the deadline.
The government responded, saying it agreed to delay the March 26 deadline to March 28.
The legal challenge comes as the U.S. Supreme Court also considers a high-profile case dealing with transgender rights. The issue in the case, United States vs. Skrmetti, is whether the equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same, prohibits states from allowing medical providers to deliver puberty blockers and hormones to assist with a minor's transition to another sex.
A decision from the high court, however, is not expected until May or June.
"The Skrmetti decision will occupy a good bit of the field here and provide some guidance. And so I doubt the D.C. Circuit is going to feel the need to rush things," Charles Stimson, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital.
"If I was sitting on the D.C. Circuit and I had all these other cases coming my way, and I was on a three-judge panel, I don't think it'd be the top of my pile."
On March 21, the defendants in the suit, who include President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, filed a motion to dissolve the injunction blocking the Pentagon's ban. (Reuters/Yves Herman)
The Trump administration further requested that, if the motion to dissolve is denied, the court should stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal.
The government cited new guidance issued March 21 that it expected to enact the policy it not for the ongoing litigation. The guidance clarified that "the phrase ‘exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria’" solely applies to "'individuals who exhibit such symptoms as would be sufficient to constitute a diagnosis.'"
In its motion requesting to dissolve the March 18 injunction, the government wrote that the March 21 guidance constitutes a "significant change" that would warrant the court dissolving the injunction.
Under the requirements, a party requesting to dissolve a preliminary injunction must demonstrate "a significant change either in factual conditions or in law" that shows that continued enforcement of the order would be "detrimental to the public interest."
"The March 21, 2025, guidance constitutes a ‘significant change,’" the filing states. "Whereas the Court has broadly construed the scope of the DoD Policy to encompass all trans-identifying servicemembers or applicants, the new guidance underscores Defendants’ consistent position that the DoD Policy is concerned with the military readiness, deployability, and costs associated with a medical condition — one that every prior Administration has, to some degree, kept out of the military."
Fox News' Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
Haley Chi-Sing is a politics writer for Fox News Digital. You can reach her at @haleychising on X.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/transgender-military-ban-set-take-effect-amid-ongoing-court-battle