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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added to the growing criticism of federal judges by President Donald Trump and his administration on Saturday, mocking the judge who halted a ban on transgender troops in the U.S. military and implying she had overstepped her authority.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington ruled that Trump’s January 27 executive order, one of several targeting legal rights for transgender Americans, likely violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.
In a social media post on platform X, Hegseth sarcastically referred to the judge as “Commander Reyes” and suggested she was overreaching by making decisions about military operations.
“Since ‘Judge’ Reyes is now a top military planner, she/they can report to Fort Benning at 0600 to instruct our Army Rangers on how to execute High Value Target Raids,” Hegseth wrote. “After that, Commander Reyes can dispatch to Fort Bragg to train our Green Berets on counterinsurgency warfare.”
Reyes was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden. Tensions have escalated between Trump’s administration and federal judges who have issued rulings obstructing some of his actions since he returned to office in January, raising concerns about the safety of judges.
Trump, his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other officials have recently criticized judges. For example, Trump called for the impeachment of a judge overseeing a legal challenge to deportation flights, labeling him a “Radical Left Lunatic” and a “troublemaker and agitator,” prompting a rare rebuke from the U.S. Chief Justice.
Federal courts are handling over 100 lawsuits challenging various initiatives by Trump and his administration, with some judges issuing nationwide injunctions to block policies such as his attempt to limit automatic birthright citizenship.
Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host, has prioritized culture war issues, including banning transgender troops and eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the U.S. military.
After Hegseth assumed leadership at the Pentagon, Trump also replaced the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown, who is Black, and the Navy’s top admiral, the first woman to hold the position. Hegseth had previously questioned whether Brown was appointed solely because of his race.
While Trump and Hegseth have broad authority to replace military officers, their efforts to ban transgender service members have sparked numerous lawsuits.
On February 11, the military announced it would no longer allow transgender individuals to join and would cease providing or facilitating medical procedures related to gender transition for service members. Later that month, it stated it would begin discharging transgender members.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit before Reyes argued the order was illegal, citing a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found employment discrimination against transgender people to be a form of illegal sex discrimination.
Administration lawyers argued in court that the military has the right to exclude individuals with certain conditions, such as bipolar disorder and eating disorders, deeming them unfit for service. At a March 12 hearing, they urged Reyes to defer to the current administration’s judgment that transgender people are unfit for military service.
