On Tuesday, a federal judge halted the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order that barred transgender individuals from serving in the military, marking another legal blow to his policies.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., ruled that the ban likely violated the constitutional rights of transgender service members. She was the second judge to rule against the administration that day, with both decisions coming just hours apart. The rulings coincided with a tense moment as Trump called for the impeachment of another judge who had temporarily blocked deportation flights, prompting a rare public response from Chief Justice John Roberts. Judge Reyes, who President Joe Biden appointed, delayed the implementation of her order until Friday morning, allowing the administration to appeal.

“The court knows that this opinion will lead to heated public debate and appeals. In a healthy democracy, both are positive outcomes,” Reyes noted. “We should all agree, however, that every person who has answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect.”

Army Reserves 2nd Lt. Nicolas Talbott, one of 14 transgender service members involved in the lawsuit, admitted he was anxiously waiting to learn whether he would be discharged from the military the following week.

“This is such a sigh of relief,” he stated. “This is all I’ve ever wanted to do. This is my dream job, and I finally have it. And I was so terrified that I was about to lose it.”

The White House did not directly reply to a request for comment. Meanwhile, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, reacted to the ruling on social media, stating, “District court judges have now decided they are in command of the Armed Forces…is there no end to this madness?”

The judge granted a preliminary injunction in response to a request from attorneys representing individuals also trying to enlist in the military. On January 27, Trump inked an executive order stating that the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honourable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and negatively impacts military readiness.

In response to the order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth implemented a policy that generally bars individuals with gender dysphoria from serving in the military. Gender dysphoria refers to the distress experienced when a person's assigned gender does not align with their gender identity and is often associated with depression and suicidal thoughts. The attorneys representing the plaintiffs argue that Trump's order violates the Fifth Amendment rights of transgender individuals by denying them equal protection. Meanwhile, government lawyers maintain that military officials can determine service member assignments and deployments without court intervention.

Reyes stated that she did not decide to block Trump’s order lightly, emphasising that “Judicial overreach is no less pernicious than executive overreach.” However, she also pointed out that each branch of government must maintain checks and balances. She asserted that the court “therefore must act to uphold the equal protection rights that the military defends every day.”

Although thousands of transgender individuals serve in the military, they make up less than 1% of all active-duty personnel. In 2016, the Defence Department introduced a policy allowing transgender people to serve openly. However, during Donald Trump’s first term as president, he issued an order banning transgender service members, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court. When Joe Biden took office, he reversed the ban.

Hegseth’s policy, issued on February 26, states that service members or military applicants who have“a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”

Among those challenging Trump’s order in court are a platoon leader in the Army Reserves from Pennsylvania, an Army major who earned a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan, and a Navy service member who was recognised as Sailor of the Year.

“The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed—some risking their lives—to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the military ban seeks to deny them,” Reyes penned.

Attorneys from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLAD Law argued that transgender troops “seek nothing more than the opportunity to continue dedicating their lives to defending the Nation.” In their statement, the plaintiffs’ attorneys criticised the policy, stating that “these accomplished servicemembers are now subject to an order that says they must be separated from the military based on a characteristic that has no bearing on their proven ability to do the job.” They described the decision as “a stark and reckless reversal of policy that denigrates honourable transgender servicemembers, disrupts unit cohesion, and weakens our military.”

Government lawyers argued that the Defence Department has long barred individuals from military service if they have physical or psychological conditions, including mental health disorders.

“In any context other than the one at issue in this case, DoD’s professional military judgment about the risks of allowing individuals with physical or emotional impairments to serve in the military would be virtually unquestionable,” they reported.

Lawyers representing the plaintiffs argue that Trump’s order is part of a broader pattern of his administration’s discrimination against transgender individuals. Meanwhile, federal judges in Seattle and Baltimore have separately blocked Trump’s executive order that sought to end federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19. Additionally, last month, a judge prevented prison officials from transferring three transgender women to men’s facilities and from cutting off their access to hormone therapy, which was mandated by another Trump order. Trump has also introduced policies restricting how schools can teach about gender and has pushed for a ban on transgender athletes competing in girls and women’s sports.

“From its first days, this administration has moved to strip protections from transgender people across multiple domains — including housing, social services, schools, sports, healthcare, employment, international travel, and family life,” penned plaintiffs’ lawyers.