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A federal judge stopped a hearing about Donald Trump’s ban on transgender military service members in its tracks Wednesday, calling for a recess from proceedings to invite the Department of Justice’s lawyer to actually read up on the policy they were defending.

U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes had criticized the department’s lawyer for not having read three reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cited in his policy banning transgender members of the military, according to Politico’s senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney, who posted several updates on the hearing on X.

An internal memo issued by the Pentagon in February “disqualified” transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military.

“Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are disqualified from military service,” the memo said, also banning individuals who had a “history of cross-sex hormone therapy or a history of sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria or in pursuit of a sex transition.”

Reyes claimed that Hegseth’s policy banning transgender service members had “egregiously misquoted” the three reports it cited, and she couldn’t believe that the Justice Department’s lawyer hadn’t bothered to actually read them.

Reyes requested that the court take a 30-minute break, and asked the department’s lawyer to review the reports and compare how they’d been misquoted by Hegseth in his policy. Then, they could tell her whether they believe she could reasonably rely on Hegseth’s interpretation of those reports.

When the court resumed, Reyes pointed out that one study Hegseth had relied on to demonstrate that transgender service members hurt troop readiness and weaken their unit, actually concluded the exact opposite. The study found that transgender service members were more deployable, and experienced fewer lapses in their service than those diagnosed with depression, who were not automatically excluded from service.

But that wasn’t all. As Reyes went through each of the findings cited in the ban, she found that “virtually every” one contradicted support for Hegseth’s policy, according to Cheney.

Reyes asked the DOJ lawyer why she should defer to Hegseth’s blatant “cherrypicking” and providing “misleading” analysis.

In a brief memo filed in court on February 10, Hegseth directed the military to stop integrating new recruits “with a history of gender dysphoria” and to pause “planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition.” The policy wouldn’t affect the estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender individuals currently serving the military.

Later in February, as part of a complaint the Pentagon filed against Reyes, accusing her of “misconduct,” indicating potential bias in the case, an internal Pentagon memo was revealed that pushed the ban even further.

Hegseth’s policy notes that transgender service members “may be considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling Government interest.”

To obtain an exemption, a soldier must demonstrate “stability” in their sex for 36 consecutive months, demonstrate that they have never attempted to transition to any sex other than their sex, and be willing to adhere to any standards associated with their sex, according to Fox News.

Hegseth’s memo followed Trump’s executive order revoking a Biden-era policy allowing transgender service members in the military. “Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” the order said.

This story has been updated.

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