If
the
DOJ
thought
they
were
going
to
intimidate
Judge
Ana
Reyes
by
asking
to
speak
to
her
manager,
they
seem
to
have
seriously
miscalculated.
Last
week,
AG
Pam
Bondi’s
chief
of
staff
Chad
Mizelle
fired
off
a
nastygram
to
Chief
Judge
Sri
Srinivasan
at
the
DC
Circuit
complaining
that
Judge
Reyes
was
mean
to
the
lawyers
defending
the
Trump
administration’s
anti-trans
policy.
Apparently
she
tried
to
illustrate
that
singling
out
trans
service
members
is
arbitrarily
stigmatizing
by
declaring
that
all
lawyers
who
attended
UVA
Law
School
are
untrustworthy
and
making
a
DOJ
lawyer
sit
down
for
a
minute.
“Such
treatment
undermines
the
dignity
of
counsel
and
the
decorum
of
the
courtroom,”
huffed
Mizelle,
with
no
apparent
irony.
This
week,
the
Defense
Department
docketed
its
separation
policy
for
trans
service
members.
It’s
as
vile
as
expected,
declaring
that
gender
is
binary
and
immutable
and
transgender
members
of
the
military
detract
from
the
“lethality,
cohesion,
honesty,
humility,
uniformity,
and
integrity”
of
the
armed
services.
On
the,
umm,
plus
side,
they’re
not
planning
to
demand
reimbursement
for
tuition
and
signing
bonuses
for
anyone
who
agrees
to
voluntary
separation.
Judge
Reyes,
who
affronted
the
DOJ
lawyers
by
pointing
out
that
sex
is
not
binary,
was
not
impressed.
Here’s
her
minute
order
of
this
morning
in
its
entirety:
The
Court
is
in
receipt
of
the
63
February
26,
2025
memorandum
with
Additional
Guidance
on
Prioritizing
Military
Excellence
and
Readiness.
In
light
of
it,
the
Court
Orders
Defendants
to
file
on
the
public
docket
the
following
by
10:00
am
March
1,
2025:
1.
The
total
amount
of
Department
of
Defense
(DoD)
spending
per
year
from
2015
to
2024,
and
the
total
overall
for
that
time
period.
2.
The
total
amount
of
DoD
spending
per
year
from
2015
to
2024
on
psychotherapy
for
all
service
members,
and
the
total
overall
for
that
time
period.
3.
The
total
amount
of
DoD
spending
per
year
from
2015
to
2024
on
surgical
care
for
all
service
members,
and
the
total
overall
for
that
time
period.
4.
The
total
amount
of
DoD
spending
per
year
from
2015
to
2024
on
elective
surgical
care
for
all
service
members,
and
the
total
overall
for
that
time
period.
5.
If
publicly
available
links
exist,
links
to
the
line-item
budget
for
DoD
spending
for
each
year
between
2015
and
2024.
6.
Identification
of
any
“mental
health
constraint,”
other
than
gender
dysphoria,
that
DoD
has
previously
found
to
be
inconsistent
with
“honesty,
humility,
and
integrity.”
7.
For
each
Plaintiff,
whether
implementation
of
the
Action
Memo
would
require
him
or
her
to
be
separated
from
the
Armed
Forces.
8.
The
most
recent
estimate
made
by
the
DoD
of
the
number
of
transgender
individuals
currently
serving
in
the
Armed
Forces.
If
Defendants
do
not
have
ready
access
to
“spending”
amounts,
they
can
provide
the
budgeted
amounts.
If
Defendants
have
any
questions
about
this
order,
they
should
contact
Chambers
with
Plaintiffs’
counsel
today,
February
27,
2025,
to
have
them
addressed.
Someday
soon,
the
Supreme
Court
will
barf
out
an
opinion
justifying
this
wanton
bigotry.
It
will
probably
fall
to
Justice
Gorsuch
to
explain
how
kicking
out
trans
service
members
is
totally
different
from
firing
people
for
being
trans
in
the
private
sector
—
no
conflict
with
Bostock
here!
But
for
today,
Judge
Reyes
will
not
let
the
Trump
administration
simply
present
their
lies
about
trans
service
as
facts.
They’ll
have
to
pony
up
and
admit
that
the
vanishingly
small
number
of
trans
people
in
the
armed
forces
pose
no
burden
to
cohesion
or
military
finance.
Or
maybe
they’ll
run
to
Chief
Justice
Roberts
and
ask
him
for
a
stay
on
their
homework
…
again.
Talbott
v.
Trump
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.