I was reliably told that if Donald Trump got elected president, democracy itself was at risk. 

And sure enough, the warnings were correct. Without the unanimous consent of every federal judge, it turns out that elections can be nullified, the Constitution torn up, and the Executive Branch paralyzed. 

At the outset of his administration, President Trump signed a common-sense executive order barring transgender military service. In February, the Pentagon issued a memo affirming that people with a history of gender dysphoria are "incompatible" with U.S. military service. pic.twitter.com/KXBSEbqbj3

— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) April 25, 2025

Four years ago, no person employed by the United States military was thought to have a Constitutional right to have the taxpayers shell out for their "gender-affirming care." Late in his term, Obama opened the door, and during Trump's first term, that door was closed. 

And then Joe Biden went all-in. And while Biden may not have had a functioning brain, he did get to appoint a ton of judges. 

While Joe Biden failed in formally amending the Constitution by tweet, he nonetheless created new Constitutional rights out of whole cloth simply by instituting the insane policy that the Pentagon would pay to chop off people's genitals and give them cosmetic surgery.

You can't serve in the military if you have asthma, braces, or a peanut allergy. You can't serve if you take certain kinds of acne medications, or if you've taken ADHD meds within the past year.

But if you're a man who is convinced he's a woman, the military has to indulge you.

— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) April 25, 2025

As much as it pains me to admit it, Obama and Biden certainly had the executive power to implement the insane policy of turning the military into a tool to subsidize transgenderism. It was absurd, dangerous, destructive, and drove away recruits, weakening the military. But it was within their legal purview. 

Being Commander in Chief is a core executive power, meaning that the president has few limits on what he can do with the military. Save for orders that violate the Constitution or explicit federal laws, the power to decide is inherent in the office. Without a well-functioning military able to preserve the Constitutional order, the Constitution is nothing but words written on a page or pixels on a screen. 

The President of the United States and his Secretary of Defense have determined that people needing constant medical and psychological care, which are inherent in being a transgender soldier, are incapable of serving competently in the military. The standard is not arbitrary or gauzy--it's not based on feelz. It's not even something rather vague like "good order and discipline," which in itself is an acceptable standard by which to judge a person's fitness for military service. Even a "loss of confidence" can get a leader expelled. 

Obviously, a chronic condition--medical or mental, however you prefer to characterize gender dysphoria--is a more than sufficient reason to kick somebody out of the military. If PTSD--a disability CAUSED by military service--is sufficient reason to discharge somebody from the military, a condition that requires constant care disqualifying one from serving on the battlefield certainly does. 

Yet according to a federal judge, that isn't so. Because, well, they don't like it. 

POLITICO's story portrays this as merely a political matter--Pete Hegseth and Trump lost their "culture war" battle. 

As a result, the administration is barred from removing transgender service members or restricting their medical care, a priority of President Donald Trump and Hegseth. The administration insisted its restrictions were geared toward people experiencing medical challenges related to “gender dysphoria,” but two federal judges said in March that the policy was a thinly veiled ban on transgender people that violated the Constitution.

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow the Pentagon to ban transgender servicemembers while legal battles continue to play out.

Both judges ordered the military to refrain from forcing out more than 1,000 transgender troops and to resume providing for their medical care, including surgical procedures and voice and hormone therapy. The memo is the latest move by the Pentagon to comply with those orders.

But it presents another headache for Hegseth, who has made culture war issues — such as changing recruitment standards and reinstating the ban — a key piece of his effort to make the military more lethal. Hegseth has emphasized this theme as he’s sought to defend himself amid multiple scandals, including texting sensitive details of military operations in Yemen to multiple Signal group chats and a vicious brawl between his top advisers.

Deciding whether Pete Hegseth is fit to be the Secretary of Defense is a political matter on which people can disagree. Deciding whether the president and his duly appointed and Senate-confirmed Secretary of Defense can set reasonable standards for admission into the military is not. It is core to their powers. 

The Founders would not have imagined a federal judge deciding that they could set standards for military service, because such standards are set prudentially--the military must function optimally to perform its duties. It is not a playground where judges implement their preferred social policies. 

What next? A new right for obese people incapable of running more than 10 feet to serve as Green Berets? 

This is absurd on its face. 

Leftists may want the military to accept transgender people for service, and may believe that they pose no problem, but it is the president and his chosen military leaders who are in the position to determine that, because it is they who are charged with defending the nation--a purely prudential matter. Just as we let officers and senior enlisted decide who will be sent to take a hill or what tactics and strategy will be used to accomplish a goal, we empower the president and Congress to decide what the military should look like and what it should do. 

Not judges. Without an effective military, constitutional order, and judicial power, the country is in jeopardy. There will be no Constitutional order to preserve.

These judges seem to think that an amendment was passed that says, "Anything Joe Biden did is the final word on any matter." This is not so. Nor is it the case that judges are empowered to use their power to set policy in all matters in the United States, whatever they think. 

For all the talk about nobody "being above the law," that clearly is not the position of the current federal judiciary. 

The new judicial standard is, as Louis the XIV said, "L'État, c'est moi."