'Unacceptable misconduct': Trump DOJ files official complaint against Biden-appointed judge
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks as she announces an immigration enforcement action during her first press conference at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 12, 2025.
One federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden is now under the microscope of President Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ).
CBS News reporter Jake Rosen tweeted Friday that the Trump DOJ is now filing an official complaint against Judge Ana Reyes, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The administration is arguing that Reyes displayed "hostile and egregious conduct" this week during oral arguments in the Talbott v. Trump case, in which transgender members of the military are alleging the administration's ban on trans service members is unconstitutional.
"Judge Reyes engaged in the unacceptable misconduct at issue in this complaint, questioning a Department of Justice attorney regarding his religious beliefs and then using him unwillingly as a physical prop in her courtroom theatrics," wrote DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle.
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The complaint may stem from a viral moment that occurred during oral arguments, in which Reyes and a DOJ attorney sparred over pronoun use in the military. When the DOJ asserted that respecting transgender service members' pronouns harmed military readiness, Reyes said "the greatest fighting force" should not be "impacted in any way by less than one percent of the soldiers using a different pronoun."
"if our military is negatively impacted in any kind of way that matters… We all have a lot bigger problems than pronoun use. We have a military that is incompetent." Reyes said. "Any common sense rational human being knows that it doesn’t. It is pretext. It is frankly ridiculous. If you want to get me an officer of the U.S. military who is willing to get on the stand and say that because of pronoun usage the U.S. military is less prepared because of pronoun usage. I will be the first to give you a box of cigars.”
Transgender service members are suing under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, arguing that the nation's founding document guarantees that transgender members of the military are entitled to protection from sex-based discrimination.
"President Trump states that transgender service members cannot meet the 'high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,'" plaintiffs argue. "But these are the very same justifications that have been cited, time and again, by enemies of greater integration of our military—and they are the same concerns that, time and again, have proven to be rooted in unsupported stereotypes and misplaced fears."
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