A federal judge in N.J. blocked the Trump administration from moving to fire two transgender Air Force members

A federal judge on Monday agreed to temporarily block President Donald Trump’s administration from initiating proceedings that could lead to the firing of two transgender men serving in the U.S. Air Force — the latest legal setback in the administration’s push to implement sweeping changes in the military.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn came less than a week after the men — Master Sgt. Logan Ireland and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bear Bade — sued to try to prevent their impending dismissal under Trump’s executive order seeking to bar transgender people from serving in the military. They filed suit in New Jersey because Bade is stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County, and Ireland recently was stationed there for a training program.

O’Hearn’s ruling also came just days after a federal judge in Washington separately said the military’s proposed transgender ban was likely unconstitutional. That judge, Ana Reyes, has since barred the Defense Department from enacting a policy codifying the change; the government has challenged the ruling, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying on X: “We will win.”

O’Hearn did not explain her ruling from the bench Monday, but said in a written order that she was “inclined to agree” with Reyes that an attempt to ban service members because of their gender identity violated the Fifth Amendment right to equal protection. She also said the government had “not demonstrated any compelling justification whatsoever for immediate implementation of the [policy], particularly since transgender persons have been openly serving in the military for a number of years.”

And she said attempts to strip Ireland and Bade of their jobs would be permanently damaging for them, writing: “Being summarily and involuntarily dismissed from military service after years of unblemished and decorated service under the cloud of being suddenly deemed unfit and disqualified for military service for no reason other than one’s gender identity is irreparable harm.”

Her ruling technically blocks the Air Force from moving to begin the administrative process of dismissing Ireland and Bade for 14 days. But their lawyers argued the timing was crucial — dismissal proceedings could have otherwise started this week, they said in court documents.

And O’Hearn’s decision should allow the men to remain in service as the broader challenge to the Trump administration’s policy proceeds in Washington — something that could bar the administration from implementing its ban altogether.

The men’s attorney, Jennifer Levi, said after Monday’s hearing that she appreciated that O’Hearn understood the gravity of the case, and said: “My clients are very relieved to have this order issued.”

Bade, who attended the hearing, declined to comment afterward, as did Abhishek Kambli, a Justice Department attorney who argued on behalf of the government in court. A Defense Department spokesperson referred questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment further.

Ireland, 37, and Bade, 44, filed suit last week, saying that after Trump signed an executive order in January seeking to ban transgender military service, they were quickly forced into administrative absence and told they could continue to serve only if they did so as women. Both Ireland and Bade have medically transitioned to live as men — Ireland about a decade ago, while serving in the Air Force, and Bade before he enlisted.

The men said they were also forced to involuntarily return to their home bases for failing to comply with “female regulations and standards.” Ireland, who had been at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, was sent to Hawaii, their suit said, while Bade, who had been deployed to Kuwait, was forced to return to New Jersey.

Ireland, who had completed tours of duty in Afghanistan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, was also suddenly denied acceptance to Officer Training School this month, his suit said, even though he’d previously received his commander’s top endorsement for the program.

They said in their suit that efforts to have them involuntarily removed from duty would violate their Fifth Amendment equal protection rights.

O’Hearn said in her order that she found their case persuasive, writing at one point that granting them relief “is in the public interest, as it prevents unconstitutional discrimination and maintains the status quo of policies that have now governed the military for years.”

During the 90-minute hearing inside Camden’s federal courthouse, the judge, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, also sought to push back on the notion that judges should have little to no say in evaluating whether military staffing decisions are illegal. During an extended back and forth at one point, she asked Kambli, the government lawyer, what would happen if a commander-in-chief decided to ban women or naturalized citizens from joining the ranks.

She also asked Kambli whether the government had any recent data or studies supporting its position that transgender troops are not fit to serve. And she said if the Air Force began holding hearings questioning whether Ireland or Bade should keep their jobs, it was clear to her that they would be involuntarily removed because of their transgender status and the administration’s openly stated opposition to trans service members.

“How could the outcome of those proceedings be anything other than separation?” she asked. “We all know what the outcome is going to be.”

Even though the judge in Washington has, for the moment, prohibited the transgender ban from being enacted, lawyers for Ireland and Bade said it was still important for O’Hearn to rule on the more narrow issue related to their cases alone.

The Trump administration has been making frequent and abrupt changes to a variety of its policies, the lawyers said, and the state of the proposed transgender ban “is far from settled.”

O’Hearn said in her order that she agreed, writing that the broader ruling “could be stayed or reversed at any time,” and that another court’s decision “is no basis to deny [the men] the emergency relief they independently merit.”