A federal judge deciding whether to pause Trump administration restrictions on transgender servicemembers chided the Defense Department on Wednesday for misrepresenting studies in an attempt to justify the ban.
“Do you agree that you can’t just pick and choose sentences from a study, right?” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes asked the administration’s lawyers during a nearly five-hour hearing. Reyes is weighing whether to put the policy on hold while it's being challenged by transgender members of the military. She expects to decide by next week.
Reyes, who was equally blunt with the Defense Department lawyers about her concerns with their argument at a previous hearing, said the administration wants her to ignore “why someone would so misleadingly characterize a study other than to come to a preordained conclusion.”
