Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is appealing a judge's ruling that temporarily blocked the U.S. military from enforcing the Trump administration's ban on transgender people from serving in the armed forces.
"We are appealing this decision, and we will win," Hegseth said in a post to X on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump on Jan. 27 issued an executive order recognizing two sexes. In response, the Pentagon said on Feb. 11 that it would no longer allow transgender people to join the military. On Feb. 26, the Pentagon issued a memo directing military leadership to begin identifying transgender service members within 30 days and initiating "separation actions" within 60 days.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, issued the block on Tuesday, saying the ban likely violated transgender people's constitutional rights against sex discrimination.
"The military ban is soaked in animus and dripping with pretext," Reyes wrote. "Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact," Axios reported.
Reyes stayed her ruling until Friday morning, giving the Trump administration time to lodge an appeal, according to the report.
"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 Justice Department spokesperson told Axios.
Reyes issued her ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by 14 active-duty transgender service members led by Army reserve 2nd Lt. Nicolas Talbott. Other similar lawsuits were also filed against the Trump administration.
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, said in a post to X, "District court judges have now decided they are in command of the armed forces … is there no end to this madness?"
The National Institutes of Health estimated that roughly 8,000 transgender people were serving in the military as of 2020, "although the actual number may be greater due to insufficient study of this population and potential fear of disclosure of one's gender identity," the organization wrote.
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