Judge who blocked Trump from implementing ban on transgender troops has activism history with Democrats: Report

Washington, DC [US], March 20 (ANI): Ana C Reyes, the US federal judge who blocked US President Donald Trump from enforcing an executive order imposing a ban on transgender troops from serving in the military, has a 'long history of activism' in the Democratic Party, including volunteering for former President Joe Biden and donating huge sums to Democrat campaigns, Fox News reported.
US District Judge Reyes, appointed by Biden, is the first openly gay federal judge in Washington, DC. In her Senate questionnaire during her confirmation process, she admitted that she volunteered for Biden's campaign in 2020, "providing limited legal assistance regarding potential election law issues."
Reyes, who took office in February 2023, has been donating to Democratic causes to the tune of over USD 38,000 since 2008, sending money to liberal efforts like ActBlue, Democratic SenatorJon Ossof's campaign, and giving contributions to Biden's 2020 presidential campaign, Fox News reported, citing FEC records.
In addition, Reyes has been frequently contributing to Defeat By Tweet, a Democratic-aligned super PAC that supports the Justice Fund, that Influence Watch calls a group that "raises money for liberal groups in swing states each time President Donald Trump makes a post to his controversial Twitter account."
Currently, the website of Defeat by Tweet is shuttered. However, it has mentioned that it is "transferring" its resources to Black Church PAC, a group aligned with defunding the police that received at least USD 150,000 from the Kamala Harris presidential campaign, according to Fox News report.
Reyes was born in Uruguay, and her family immigrated to the US when she was in kindergarten. She has been active in representing illegal immigrants while she was working as a lawyer.
In her speech accepting the 2017 Woman's Bar Association of the District of Columbia's Woman Lawyer of the Year award, Ana C Reyes said she was "privileged" to represent asylum seekers and thanked lawyers at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She stated that it was an honour "fighting for the rights of refugees in the United States."
In the same speech, Reyes said that she deferred law school for a year to work for the Feminist Majority Foundation, a group that describes itself as a "cutting-edge organization dedicated to women's equality, reproductive health, and non-violence."
During her Senate questionnaire, Reyes said she served on the board for the group from "2014-present." However, her name is not currently mentioned on the organisation's website. The questionnaire also acknowledges that she was a panellist in a 2021 discussion called "Did You Really Just Say That? Recognizing and Managing Microaggressions."
The discussion was hosted by Centerforce, which touts a DEI series that comprises several conferences aimed at "address[ing] the obstacles posed by the backlash against DEI initiatives and the consequences of Affirmative Action repeal."
Despite her history of progressive activism, Reyes has backed Trump in the past, including in April last year when she berated the Justice Department under the Biden administration after two of its employees did not appear in court for depositions related to the Republican push to impeach Biden, Fox News reported, citing NBC News report.
She also termed it "an attack on our constitutional democracy" when a former IRS consultant leaked tax returns of Trump. She also ripped the lawyers of eight inspectors general who were sacked by Trump and denied their reinstatement in February, asking, "Why on earth did you not have this figured out with the defendants before coming here?"
Ana C Reyes has questioned the Trump administration at length over the executive order signed on January 27. The order, signed by Trump, requires the US Defence Department to update its guidance regarding "trans-identifying medical standards for military service" and to "rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness."
Reyes has demanded to know whether it was a "transgender ban" and if the government's position is that being transgender is an "ideology." Previously, she has mentioned that the idea of only two sexes is not "biologically correct" and issued a preliminary injunction this week banning the Pentagon from implementing Trump's order, Fox News reported.
In her 79-page ruling, Reyes cites Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical "Hamilton" to justify blocking the ban on transgender soldiers. In the footnotes, she mentioned, "Women were 'included in the sequel' when passage of the Nineteenth Amendment granted them the right to vote in 1920," adding, "That right is one of the many that thousands of transgender persons serve to protect." (ANI)