Pentagon 'cherry picked' studies to support transgender service member ban, judge says

Source: ABC News

March 12, 2025, 2:57 PM


A federal judge spent Wednesday morning grilling a Department of Justice lawyer about the legality of the Pentagon's transgender service member ban, repeatedly suggesting the policy relies on a flawed understanding of gender dysphoria. The Pentagon's new policy to separate transgender U.S. service members from the military is facing its first legal test as U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes considers issuing an order blocking the policy from taking effect.

During Wednesday's hearing, Judge Reyes said that the government "egregiously misquoted" and "cherry picked" scientific studies to incorrectly assert that transgender soldiers decrease the readiness and lethality of the military. While Judge Reyes has not yet issued a formal ruling, she repeatedly suggested that the policy unfairly targets a class of people that the Trump administration dislikes.

"The question in this case is whether the military under the equal protection rights afforded to every American under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, if the military ... can do that and targeting a specific medical issue that impacts a specific group that the administration disfavors," she said. Judge Reyes also pressed DOJ attorney Jason Manion to identify any other similar medical issues that has prompted a similar response from the Department of Defense.

"Identify for me a single other time in recent history where the military has excluded a group of people for having a disqualifying issue, because I can't think of one," Judge Reyes asked. Manion answered that the military applied a similar policy for soldiers who declined to take the COVID-19 vaccine, prompting an incredulous Judge Reyes to ask anyone in the gallery to raise their hand if they had gotten COVID. "Lots of people raise their hands, right?" Judge Reyes said. "All different kinds of people ... so it wasn't just aimed at getting rid of one group of people."

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/judges-blocking-mass-firings-transgender-servicemember-ban/story?id=119708856