‘Incompetence’ is the word of the day after a judge was forced to delay a trial because DOJ lawyers are so unprepared

Well, folks, we’ve reached that special moment in American jurisprudence where a federal judge had to basically send a lawyer to timeout to do their homework.

U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes halted proceedings mid-hearing this week when it became painfully obvious that the Justice Department’s lawyer hadn’t bothered to read the very reports they were citing to defend Trump’s transgender military ban. The jaw-dropping incompetence unfolded as Judge Reyes realized the DOJ lawyer was flying blind while defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policy banning transgender individuals from military service.

The February memo, which “disqualified” transgender service members, cited three supposedly supporting reports. The only problem? When Judge Reyes actually read them, she discovered Hegseth had “egregiously misquoted” these documents.  The Judge, understandably, was not having it. She paused the hearing and essentially told the DOJ lawyer to sit down and do their homework.

When court resumed, things went from embarrassing to catastrophic. Judge Reyes methodically dismantled the DOJ’s position by pointing out that studies Hegseth’s team had cited as proof that transgender troops hurt readiness actually concluded the exact opposite. One of the reports, for example, found that transgender service members were actually more deployable and experienced fewer service lapses than those diagnosed with depression.

So, to recap: Hegseth and the Trump administration took data that proved transgender service members were effective, twisted it into a pretzel of misinformation, and slapped it onto a policy that reeks of prejudice.

The February order essentially barred new recruits “with a history of gender dysphoria” and halted “planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition.” By banning capable people from serving, we’re being stupid. The military isn’t exactly overwhelmed with volunteers these days, and turning away 9,000 to 14,000 people — willing and abled service members — because of their gender identity is a self-inflicted wound. Transgender service members have already proven that they can serve just as effectively as anyone else, and they’ve done so while facing enormous barriers and discrimination. They deserve better than to be treated as political pawns in a culture war they didn’t ask to be a part of.

However, the cherry on top? The Pentagon’s reaction to Judge Reyes calling out their nonsense. Instead of taking the criticism in stride, they doubled down, previously accusing her of “misconduct” and bias against the government’s case. I’d love to say this kind of nonsense is surprising, but it’s not. It’s what happens when you prioritize scoring political points over protecting people’s rights.