Appeals Court Sides With Hegseth On ‘Trans’ Military Ban, Scolds Biden Judge
A federal appeals court on Tuesday sided with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration over its reimposed policy barring transgender Americans from serving in the U.S. military. At the same time, the appeals panel chided the lower federal district court judge appointed by Joe Biden over her ruling against the Pentagon.
“In our view, the court afforded insufficient deference to the Secretary’s considered judgment. Accordingly, we stay the preliminary injunction pending the government’s appeal,” the three-judge DC Circuit Court of Appeals said, scolding Judge Ana Reyes in a 2-1 decision.
“The United States military enforces strict medical standards to ensure that only physically and mentally fit individuals join its ranks. For decades, these requirements barred service by individuals with gender dysphoria, a medical condition associated with clinically significant distress,” wrote Judge Gregory G. Katsas, a Trump appointee, in the majority opinion which was enjoined by Judge Neomi Jehangir Rao, another Trump appointee.
“The 2025 policy generally bars individuals with gender dysphoria from serving in the Armed Forces. The Secretary of Defense concluded that this policy would advance important military interests of combat readiness, unit cohesion, and cost control. In doing so, he consulted materials compiled to assess the 2016 and 2018 policy changes, as well as more recent studies regarding the impacts of gender dysphoria on those with the condition and on their military service. The district court nonetheless preliminarily enjoined the 2025 policy based on its own contrary assessment of the evidence,” said the ruling.
Recommended for youIn January, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders — the “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” order and the “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” order — directing the U.S. military to eliminate the use of race- or sex-based preferences in its operations and personnel policies.
The orders also instruct the Department of War to review internal practices related to gender identity and pronoun usage as part of a broader assessment of military standards and readiness.
In March, the Trump administration revised its policy regarding service members with gender dysphoria and asked Judge Reyes to lift her earlier preliminary injunction blocking implementation.
During the hearing, Reyes sharply questioned Justice Department attorneys, at one point asking whether they were aware of how military spending on Viagra compared to the costs associated with gender dysphoria treatment.
Hegseth took to the X platform in March to shred Reyes’ decision.
“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…after that, Commander Reyes can dispatch to Fort Bragg to train our Green Berets on counterinsurgency warfare,” he wrote.
In May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump Administration to enforce its ban on transgender troops as the legal challenges made it through the lower courts.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday erased a lower court ruling that had upheld New York’s strict school vaccine rules that don’t allow for religious exemptions and ordered judges to reconsider the case with a new focus on parental rights.
Recommended for youAmish parents had challenged the law, arguing New York once recognized religious exemptions but eliminated them in 2019, The Washington Times reported. A federal district court and then the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the families, however.
The Supreme Court told the appeals court to reevaluate the case in light of last term’s ruling involving the lack of parental opt-outs from the LGBTQ diversity curriculum in Montgomery County, Maryland. The justices vacated the 2nd Circuit opinion, removing it from effect.
Kelly Shackelford, president of First Liberty, which represented the Amish families, called the order a victory.
“The Amish community in New York wants to be left alone to live out their faith just like they have for 200 years,” he said. “The Amish take their faith very seriously and are simply asking the State of New York to respect their sincerely held beliefs.”
On my birthday, my sister smashed the cake straight into my face, laughing as she watched me fall backward, blood mixing with the frosting. Everyone said, “It’s just a joke.” But the next mo
On my birthday, my sister smashed the cake straight into my face, laughing as she watched me fall backward, blood mixing with the frosting. Everyone said, “It’s just a joke.”
But the next morning in the emergency room, the doctor studied my X-ray and immediately called 911—because what he saw… exposed a horrifying truth.
Part One: “It’s Just a Joke”
On my birthday, the room smelled like sugar and candles and cheap champagne. A pink cake sat in the center of the table, my name written across it in looping frosting. Everyone was laughing. Phones were out. Someone shouted for me to make a wish.
My sister stood closest to me.
She grinned, eyes bright with something that wasn’t kindness. Before I could even lean forward, her hands slammed the cake straight into my face.
The impact was harder than anyone expected.
I felt myself stumble backward, my heel catching on the rug. There was a sharp crack as my head hit the edge of the table, then the floor. For a split second, the room spun in white and pink. I tasted sugar—and then iron.
Blood mixed with frosting, dripping down my chin.
People screamed, then laughed nervously.
“Oh my God,” someone said, still chuckling. “It’s just a joke!”
My sister laughed the loudest. “Relax! You’re so dramatic.”
I tried to sit up. Pain exploded behind my eyes. My vision blurred, and the ceiling swayed like it was floating. Someone wiped my face with a napkin, smearing blood across my cheek.
“You’re fine,” my mother said quickly. “Don’t ruin the mood.”
I remember thinking how strange it was that my ears were ringing louder than the music.
I remember the taste of frosting as I swallowed blood.
I remember waking up hours later in my bed, alone, my head throbbing, my phone full of messages telling me not to be “too sensitive.”
By morning, I couldn’t lift my arm.
Part Two: The X-Ray That Changed Everything
The emergency room smelled like disinfectant and sleepless nights. The doctor asked how it happened. I hesitated, then said quietly, “I fell.”
He nodded, unconvinced, and ordered X-rays “just to be safe.”
I lay on the cold table staring at the ceiling, replaying the laughter over and over in my head. It’s just a joke. That sentence hurt almost as much as my skull.
When the doctor returned, he wasn’t smiling.
He stared at the image on the screen for a long time. Too long.
Then he left the room without a word.
Minutes later, he came back—with a nurse, a security officer, and his phone pressed to his ear.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “I need emergency services. Immediately.”
My heart started pounding. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
He turned to me, his voice careful. “This isn’t a simple fall.”
He pointed to the X-ray. Even I could see it—fine fractures branching like cracks in glass, not just in my skull, but along my collarbone and ribs. Old fractures. Healed wrong. Layered.
“These injuries happened at different times,” he said gently. “Some weeks apart. Some months.”
I stared at the screen, my mouth dry.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered.
He met my eyes. “This pattern isn’t accidental. And the impact that brought you in today could have killed you.”
The word killed echoed in my ears.
“Who did this to you?” he asked softly.
I thought of my sister’s grin. My parents’ laughter. All the times I’d been shoved, tripped, “joked” into walls. All the times I’d been told I was clumsy. Sensitive. Overreacting.
My hands began to shake.
“I think…” My voice broke. “I think it was never a joke.”
Part Three: When Laughter Turns Into Sirens
The police arrived quietly. Calmly. Like this wasn’t the first time they’d seen something like me.
They didn’t accuse. They asked questions.
Who was there last night?
Who pushed you?
How often do you get hurt?
For the first time, I didn’t minimize. I didn’t protect anyone. I told the truth.
By evening, my phone was exploding.
My mother crying.
My father furious.
My sister screaming that I had “ruined everything.”
“You’re exaggerating!” she yelled over voicemail. “It was cake! Everyone saw it!”
Everyone had seen it.
That was the horrifying truth.
Everyone had seen it—and laughed.
The investigation didn’t take long. Videos surfaced. Old medical records were reviewed. Witnesses contradicted themselves. Patterns became impossible to ignore.
What started as a “birthday prank” became an assault case.
What they called humor was documented as violence.
I was moved to a different room that night, monitored closely, safe for the first time in years. As I lay there, ice wrapped around my head, I realized something terrifying and freeing all at once:
If that cake hadn’t been smashed into my face…
If I hadn’t fallen just right…
The truth might have stayed buried forever.
Sometimes it takes breaking something visible to expose what’s been shattered for years.
