Yet another Biden-appointed judge is trying to hamstring the Trump administration's America First efforts through judicial activism.
This week, Judge Christine O'Hearn, a Biden appointee and Democrat donor, issued a 14-day temporary restraining order preventing U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the U.S. Air Force from "initiating involuntary separation proceedings" against two "transgender" servicemembers in accordance with President Donald Trump's directive on "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness."
Trump had issued an executive order in January directing Hegseth to develop a policy plan for pulling "trans"-identifying troops out of the U.S. armed forces. According to Trump's mandate, the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints of a gender dysphoric individual are "inconsistent" with the nation's "high standards" for troop readiness, lethality, unit cohesion, uniformity, honesty, humility, and integrity amongst the ranks.
On Monday, O'Hearn granted an intervention request based on the "likelihood" that the Pentagon's orders carrying out Trump's edict "violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment." The pair of plaintiffs—both biological females identifying as "transgender Airmen"—face "severe personal and professional harm absent a preliminary injunction," O'Hearn opined. Furthermore, these "harms are immediate, ongoing, and significant," O'Hearn ruled, "and cannot be remedied in the ordinary course of litigation."
Prior to President Joe Biden picking her to become a U.S. district court judge, O'Hearn worked at the New Jersey-based law firm Brown & Connery LLP, where she specialized in "complex labor and employment litigation."
Brown & Connery has its own Diversity & Inclusion Committee, which "spearheads" DEI initiatives within the workforce and implements "educational" employee "training" programs. "Its efforts are focused on targeted recruitment, outreach, and career development to attract, develop, and retain diverse candidates," the Diversity & Inclusion Committee's vision statement says.
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Over the years, the law firm's DEI committee has hosted a number of career-building events exclusively for minorities, including annual pre-law diversity conferences, a mock interview workshop involving Rutgers Law School's minority student program, and a "Female Partners & Associates Brown [Black] Lunch," which was supposed to help pave "The Woman's Path to Partnership." As a female partner at Brown & Connery, O'Hearn served on one of these women empowerment panels to guide other female associates on making partner at the firm.
Last election cycle, 100 percent of Brown & Connery's employee donations earmarked for federal candidates went to Democrats, per OpenSecrets. The same can be said for the 2022 and 2020 elections: All funding from the law firm's staff went toward Democratic candidates and causes.
During her tenure there, O'Hearn herself made multiple donations to at least two New Jersey Democratic campaigns.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show that O'Hearn handed over $6,900 to the 2008 U.S. Senate campaign of then-Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ), ahead of his unsuccessful Senate primary, and a total of $5,000 in campaign contributions for now-convicted fraudster Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)'s 2012 reelection bid.
According to a press release from the then-senator's office praising O'Hearn's judicial nomination, "Gold Bars" Bob was the one who, in fact, referred her to the Biden White House: "I applaud President Biden for nominating Ms. O'Hearn and for working with [...] me to expeditiously fill longstanding vacancies on our federal court."
"I am proud to have recommended her for appointment to the U.S District Court of New Jersey," Menendez said. "Ms. O’Hearn has spent much of her career advocating for women in the workplace and defending the rights of workers against employee discrimination, harassment and a hostile work environment. She is well-versed in labor and employment law."
According to the Biden White House, the former president selected O'Hearn because she spoke to his "strong belief that the federal judiciary should reflect the proud diversity of the nation."
O'Hearn is not the first federal judge to obstruct Trump's "trans" military ban by way of an arbitrary court order.
Judge Ana Reyes, another Biden appointee and major Democrat donor, placed a preliminary injunction on Trump's plans in a separate D.C. lawsuit lodged by several "transgender" servicemembers. Reyes, who openly identifies as LGBTQ, ordered the Trump administration to maintain the plaintiff party's military status and "take all steps necessary to effectuate" her ruling.
At a February hearing in the case, Reyes disputed that there are only two sexes, male and female. "[T]his executive order is premised on an assertion that's not biologically correct. There are anywhere near about 30 different intersex examples," Reyes hypothesized. "So, someone who does not have just an XX or XY chromosome is not just male or female; they're intersex. And there are over 30 potential different intersex examples."
While a private practice attorney, Reyes also donated thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates, including the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden.
Between 2021 and 2022, she financially supported Defeat by Tweet, a defunct Democrat super PAC that raised funds in swing states for liberal groups each time Trump posted to Twitter. Defeat by Tweet was notably launched with the help of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors. In 2020, Reyes poured money into Win the Era, a political action committee founded by failed 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, later the Biden administration's U.S. transportation secretary.
As an activist lawyer at Williams and Connolly LLP, in 2018, Reyes was part of the legal team that successfully challenged a Trump-era immigration rule making illegal aliens, those who crossed the United States border outside a port of entry, ineligible for asylum. When the court sided with her party and blocked the policy's enforcement, Reyes reportedly praised it as "a win for refugees."
Reyes also worked pro bono for several left-wing immigration groups seeking asylum for so-called refugees, including Human Rights First and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
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