Judge presses Trump administration over revoked retirements for transgender Air Force troops

A federal judge on Tuesday appeared doubtful of the Trump administration’s argument that most of the transgender Air Force and Space Force members suing over revoked retirement orders have not yet been harmed.The question before U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Elaine D. Kaplan was narrow but consequential: Can the government promise retirement to service members it is forcing out, take that promise back, and then argue that they must wait for an even more concrete injury before a court can hear their claims?Government claims transgender troops haven't been harmed Kaplan repeatedly pressed a Justice Department attorney on that position during a brief hearing in Washington, D.C., in a lawsuit brought by 17 transgender service members whose early retirement orders were issued by the Air Force in June 2025 and rescinded two months later.The government is seeking to remove 16 of the plaintiffs from the case, arguing that they were still on active duty when the lawsuit was filed and therefore were not yet entitled to retirement pay.Kaplan seemed unconvinced that this was truly a jurisdictional defect rather than a dispute over how damages should eventually be calculated.“What they’re seeking is money that they are claiming is presently due to them because of the fact that their orders were illegally, they say, rescinded,” Kaplan told the government’s lawyer.She also asked where the service members were supposed to go if her court dismissed their claims while they remained on active duty.“I don’t know if another court would have jurisdiction at this time over it,” Justice Department attorney William Rayel acknowledged.Under the government’s theory, many of the plaintiffs would have to wait until the military formally separated them without retirement, then return to court with a new claim for lost retirement pay.That position leaves the service members in a legal and personal limbo created by the same government now asking the court to disregard it.The