A D.C. judge is being accused of being one of many “activist judges” who is using her position to stymie President Donald Trump’s agenda after blocking his de facto ban on transgender people in the military.
U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes, a Biden-appointee and the first openly lesbian federal judge in D.C., blocked the Trump administration’s transgender troops ban on Tuesday night, in part citing Hamilton, a Broadway musical beloved by liberals, to justify her decision.
“The Court’s opinion is long, but its premise is simple. In the self-evident truth that ‘all people are created equal,’ all means all. Nothing more. And certainly nothing less,” the order reads, differing from the Declaration of Independence which reads, “all men are created equal.”
“Women were ‘included in the sequel’ when passage of the Nineteenth Amendment granted them the right to vote in 1920. See Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton: An American Musical (2016); compare U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776) with U.S. Const. amend. XIX (1920),” the citation reads. “That right is one of the many that thousands of transgender persons serve to protect.”
Civil rights attorney Laura Powell pointed out in a post to X that Judge Reyes’ opinion “relies in part on her independent research into disorders of sexual development (DSD), which is not part of the record.”
“Judges are not allowed to do this,” she contended.
“Not surprisingly, her information is wrong. For example, she cites the erroneous figure that 1.7% of Americans are intersex,” she noted. “She also makes assertions about where people with DSDs would be housed, based on no evidence whatsoever. (She asked the DOJ attorney the answer to that question, and he said he did not know.) This case has nothing to do with people with DSDs, many of whom were banned from serving in the military for years after the ban on trans people was lifted, which was never challenged.”
Attorney Mike Davis, who is also founder and president of the Article III Project (A3P), argued that judges like Reyes are “activist judges” who “now think they control military readiness.”
President of Judicial Watch Tom Fitton called Reyes’ opinion “disturbing” and “full of transgender extremist political talking points.”
He added that Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has already filed an ethics complaint against Judge Reyes over her handling of this litigation, including questioning the DOJ attorney about his religious views and what Jesus would think about certain policies.
The ethics complaint reads:
After a long screed about how she believes President Trump has discriminated against individuals with gender dysphoria (including a claim that he was “literally erasing transgender people”), Judge Reyes describes receiving an email suggesting that she develop a relationship with Jesus. She then uses this aside as an excuse to randomly pivot to questioning the DOJ attorney about his religious views: “What do you think Jesus would say to telling a group of people that they are so worthless, so worthless that we’re not going to allow them into homeless shelters? Do you think Jesus would be, ‘Sounds right to me’? Or do you think Jesus would say, ‘WTF? Of course, let them in?’”
This line of questioning is deeply problematic for several reasons. First, the question has no relevance to the legal analysis of military policy. Second, it placed DOJ counsel in an untenable position of either appearing unresponsive or speculating about how an incoherent hypothetical aligns with Judge Reyes’ personal religious beliefs. Counsel, however, did not fall into that trap, but instead provided a professional response that highlights the impropriety of the question itself: “The United States is not going to speculate about what Jesus would have to say about anything.” Third, sporadic use of the inappropriate abbreviation “WTF” during the questioning of an attorney on his religious beliefs sheds light on the severity of the judge’s lack of professional decorum.
During the hearing for the case in February, Reyes also denied the biological reality that there are two sexes.
“This executive order is premised on an assertion that’s not biologically correct,” Reyes said, referring to the Trump administration’s position that there are only two sexes.
“There are anywhere near 30 intersex examples. Anyone who doesn’t have XX or XY chromosomes is not just male or female, they’re intersex.”
Reyes, who was confirmed in 2023, has an extensive history of left-wing activism and donations to Democrats, Fox News reported. In her Senate questionnaire during her confirmation process, she said she volunteered for Biden’s 2020 campaign “providing limited legal assistance regarding potential election law issues.”
FEC records show she has been donated more than $38,000 to Democrat causes since 2008, including to ActBlue, Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-GA) campaign, and maxed out contributions to Biden’s 2020 run, according to the report:
Additionally, Reyes has been a frequent contributor to Defeat By Tweet, a Democratic-aligned super PAC that supports the Justice Fund, which Influence Watch describes as a group that “raises money for liberal groups in swing states each time President Donald Trump makes a post to his controversial Twitter account.”
Defeat By Tweet’s website is currently shuttered but says it is “transferring” its resources to Black Church PAC, a group aligned with defunding the police that received at least $150,000 from the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.
In her Senate questionnaire, Reyes also acknowledged working for the Feminist Majority Foundation from 2014 to present, although she is not presently on the organization’s website, the report continues. The organization has previously called abortion a “necessity” and opposed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which bars males from female sports teams.
RELATED: Media Hugely Inflated Number of Transgender Troops
Reyes, who moved from Uruguay to the United States when she was a child, represented illegal immigrants while practicing as a lawyer, the report states. During a speech in 2017 accepting the Woman’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia’s Woman Lawyer of the Year award, she said she was “privileged” to represent asylum seekers and said it was an honor “fighting for the rights of refugees in the United States.”
Her senate questionnaire further shows that she was a panelist in 2021 for a discussion called, “Did You Really Just Say That? Recognizing and Managing Microaggressions.” The discussion was hosted by Centerforce, a pro-DEI organization, according to the report.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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