Federal Judge Blocks Trump Admin from Firing 2 Transgender Airmen
A federal judge in New Jersey temporarily blocked the Trump administration from firing two U.S. Air Force transgender service members.
The ruling came after President Trump’s executive order issued in January, which spurred a policy change at the Pentagon.
U.S. District Judge Christine O’Hearn, a Joe Biden appointee, issued another setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to bar transgender individuals from the military.
NewsMax reports: U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes last week temporarily blocked the Pentagon from enforcing Trump’s executive order on Jan. 27 barring transgender individuals from military service.
“This is the latest example of an activist judge attempting to seize power at the expense of the American people who overwhelmingly voted to elect President Trump,” a Department of Justice spokesperson said.
“The Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump’s executive actions, including the Defending Women Executive Order [issued Jan. 20], and will continue to do so.”
Trump’s executive order stated:
“Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.
Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
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Last month, the Pentagon issued a memo directing military leadership to begin identifying transgender service members and initiating “separation actions” within 60 days.
The case in New Jersey involved a lawsuit filed March 17 by Master Sgt. Logan Ireland, 37, and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bade, 44. Ireland is a biological woman who medically transitioned to a man in 2012 while serving in the Air Force, and Bade did so in 2015 before enlisting, according to their lawsuit.
They argued that Trump’s order subjects them “to unequal, harmful, and demeaning treatment.” At the same time, the plaintiffs claimed they were forced into administrative absence and told they could continue to serve only if they did so as women.
“Plaintiffs face severe personal and professional harm absent a preliminary injunction,” O’Hearn wrote in her eight-page decision.
“In contrast, Defendants have not demonstrated any compelling justification whatsoever for immediate implementation of the Orders, particularly since transgender persons have been openly serving in the military for a number of years.
Additionally, granting temporary relief is in the public interest, as it prevents unconstitutional discrimination and maintains the status quo of policies that have now governed the military for years.”
O’Hearn also rejected the administration’s argument that a temporary injunction is unnecessary because of the injunction issued by Reyes.
“The existence of another court’s preliminary injunction — especially one subject to ongoing challenge — is no basis to deny Plaintiffs the emergency relief they independently merit,” O’Hearn wrote.
“We are relieved that the court intervened today to ensure Staff Sgt. Bade and Master Sgt. Ireland do not face further devastating damage to their reputations and military careers or the very real prospect of involuntary separation from the military they’ve faithfully served while the challenge to the ban moves forward in the D.C. federal district court,” Jennifer Levi, an attorney for Ireland and Bade and senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD Law, said in a news release.
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