By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed a rare judicial misconduct complaint, accusing the judge hearing a challenge of President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military of “hostile and egregious misconduct.”
The complaint said U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., violated the judicial code of conduct by disrespecting a Justice Department lawyer and failing to uphold the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.
During two hearings in the case this week, she said “WTF” – a coarse expression of incredulity – questioned a lawyer about religion and used him as a prop in a “rhetorical exercise,” the complaint said.
Reyes and a spokeswoman for the court did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The complaint was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, and lodged with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
If a judge is found to have violated the code of conduct, they can face censure, reprimand or other discipline. Judicial misconduct complaints are typically reviewed first by an appellate court’s chief judge then a council of judges.
The complaint is the latest instance of Trump administration officials and supporters ramping up criticism of judges who they say have stymied the Republican president’s second-term agenda.
Trump last month issued an executive order barring transgender people from serving in the military, saying they do not meet the high standards demanded of servicemembers. The ban is one of several actions Trump has taken to curtail the rights of transgender people.
Reyes, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, is expected to rule soon on whether to block Trump’s ban pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups on behalf of transgender servicemembers.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
