A federal choose in D.C. peppered Justice Division attorneys with hypothetical questions and online game references as she presided over the second day of oral arguments concerning the Trump administration’s try to limit or ban transgender U.S. service members within the navy.
U.S. District Decide Ana Reyes searched in useless for solutions to key questions concerning the nature of a Jan. 27 government order signed by President Donald Trump that requires the Protection Division to replace its steerage concerning “trans-identifying medical standards for military service” and to “rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”
Although Trump has instructed that “radical gender ideology” be banned from all navy branches, the chief order didn’t clarify how the Pentagon ought to do that – a scarcity of readability that Decide Reyes, a Biden appointee, zeroed in on Wednesday.
For a second day, Decide Reyes led the court docket by a dizzying-fast line of questions that whipsawed between actual and hypothetical, truth and fiction, and was flecked together with her personal sarcastic quips and observations.
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U.S. District Decide Ana Reyes is pictured with a gaggle of protesters (Getty Photos / YouTube / SenatorDurbin)
At one level, Decide Reyes ticked by a listing of actions the Trump administration has taken previously three weeks in opposition to transgender individuals, together with shifting to revoke a regulation that ensured trans-identifying people have equal entry to homeless shelters.
Decide Reyes then requested the Justice Division attorneys to inform her whether or not, of their view, such actions are discriminatory.
“What do you think Jesus would say,” Reyes proceeded to ask, about an motion that revokes a transgender particular person’s entry to homeless shelters?
“Do you think he’d say ‘sounds right to me’ or ‘WTF, let them in?'”
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, the place he signed an government order, on Thursday, Feb. 13. (AP/Ben Curtis)
Jason Lynch, the Justice Division lawyer, instructed the court docket that the federal government didn’t have a solution as to what Jesus would assume.
The tempo of the back-and-forth saved each plaintiffs for the transgender service members and the Trump administration’s attorneys on their toes, even when it did little, within the near-term, to effectuate an precise court docket ruling or reply any excellent questions concerning the government order, which is extraordinarily scant on particulars.
The Trump administration and DOJ attorneys have declined to reply Reyes’s questions over whether or not they can guarantee plaintiffs within the case won’t be faraway from their roles within the navy or face discrimination as a direct results of the chief order. The Justice Division, for its half, has described the order as not a ban however a pause, which Lynch mentioned will permit the Protection Division time to align its coverage with Trump’s order.
Throughout the second day of oral arguments, Reyes appeared exasperated and did little to disguise her displeasure with the order itself, which she described as expressing “unadulterated animus” in the direction of transgender service members.
Reyes did concede that there’s an apparent nationwide curiosity in guaranteeing the U.S. navy is ready.
“It is the greatest fighting force this world has ever seen, and we want to keep it that way – I’ve got that part,” the choose mentioned. “So how does this executive order effectuate that policy?”
“By telling the Department of Defense to issue a policy within 30 days,” Lynch responded.
“Oh, okay, any policy?” Decide Reyes quipped.
She then outlined a hypothetical scenario wherein she, as head of the Pentagon, issued a coverage that every one DOD items be geared up with Miss Pac-Man machines – a sport she famous she has in her personal chambers, and performs every so often to let off steam.
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A transgender rights supporter takes half in a rally exterior of the U.S. Supreme Courtroom as oral arguments start in a case on transgender well being rights on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty )
“So I’m now Secretary of Defense, I’m thinking about how to make my military best prepared,” Reyes mentioned. “And I think people need to let off steam every once in a while. So I’m going to issue a policy that Miss Pac-Man machines should be in every unit.”
“Would that be consistent,” she challenged Lynch, with the 30-day coverage?
Lynch mentioned that may be for the president to resolve.
Placing apart whether or not the order discriminates on the premise of intercourse, Reyes requested the DOJ attorneys, “you agree the order penalizes on basis of sex, right? How is that not a sex-based classification?”
The choose has made clear she won’t rule on the chief motion till the Trump administration outlines its coverage – together with how, or to what extent, transgender service members is perhaps impacted.
However she continued to probe Lynch, whom she reminded Tuesday is technically appearing because the authorized consultant for the Trump administration.
“I mean, I have no one else to ask, right?” Decide Reyes requested Lynch, earlier than amending the query mark in her voice.
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“You are the person I have to ask,” she instructed him.
The transgender navy coverage is slated to take impact Feb. 28, and the court docket has set a March 3 listening to date to contemplate the chief order.
Fox Information’s Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
