The Joe Biden-appointed judge who halted the Trump administration’s deportation of about 350,000 Haitians has a background as a private Democrat financial supporter, though with a sometimes-unpredictable judicial record.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, of the District of Columbia, on Monday determined President Donald Trump’s termination of Temporary Protected Status for certain Haitian immigrants “shall be null, void, and of no legal effect” until the case is complete.
Here are six things to know about Reyes.
1. ‘Transgender’ Military Service Ruling
In March 2025, Reyes blocked a Trump administration executive order that expelled certain transgender military service members.
The Trump administration argued the order barring transgender individuals “turns on gender dysphoria—a medical condition—and does not discriminate against trans-identifying persons as a class.”
Reyes countered that the order was a ban on transgender people. She added in her opinion that “leaders have used concern for military readiness to deny marginalized persons the privilege of serving.”
2. Litigating Against Trump
In a 2018 case that predated her time as a judge, Reyes was on the legal team representing 19 people who crossed the southern border without going through a port of entry. A federal judge in the case said the Trump administration could not automatically deport anyone for not using a port of entry.
The individuals were represented by the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.
Reyes, then with the firm of Williams and Connolly, told Courthouse News that the ruling was a “huge win for refugees.”
“The ruling is a victory for refugees who want to live safely with their families,” Reyes said. “We’re grateful that the court carefully considered all the issues and issued a detailed, as you’ve seen, 77-page opinion.”
3. Democrat Donor
Federal Election Commission records show that Reyes was a consistent donor to Democrat candidates and liberal political organizations while in private practice.
In 2020, she gave $2,800 to the Joe Biden presidential campaign and $5,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, which were legally separate entities.
In 2019, FEC records show she made six separate $500 donations to the Kamala Harris Democrat primary campaign. In 2016, she made a $2,700 donation to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. She also contributed $2,500 to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.
As first reported by The Federalist last year, she gave more than $1,700 to Defeat by Tweet, which is “a Democratic-aligned super PAC that allows liberal donors to sign up to contribute as little as” a penny to liberal groups in battleground states each time Trump made a post a Twitter, the social media platform now known as X.
She also made numerous donations of less than $100 to the Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue, as well as small donations to Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
4. ‘Much-Needed Diversity’
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., suggested that President Joe Biden nominate Reyes for the D.C. district court.
A Norton press release said, “Reyes will be the first Hispanic woman and first openly LGBTQ person ever to serve on that court.”
“Ana Reyes has the intelligence, temperament, and integrity to be an excellent federal judge,” Norton said in February 2023 after the Senate confirmed Reyes by a vote of 51-47. “She will also bring much-needed diversity to the federal bench. I look forward to her service.”
5. Applying the Rules to Biden DOJ
Reyes was not reliably in the Biden administration’s corner after ascending to the court.
In April 2024, the judge did not allow the Justice Department to ignore subpoenas by the House Judiciary Committee investigating whether prosecutors gave special treatment to Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
The committee tried to compel two Justice Department tax lawyers, Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, to face a deposition about Hunter Biden. The department resisted.
Reyes noted the Justice Department prosecuted former Trump aide Peter Navarro for not responding to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
“The rules apply to you all too,” Reyes told Justice Department lawyers.
6. Sentencing for Trump Tax Leaker
In January 2024, Reyes sentenced former Internal Revenue Service consultant Charles Littlejohn to five years in prison for leaking Trump’s tax returns, along with the returns of thousands of other wealthy people.
Reyes called the leak of Trump’s tax information “an attack on our constitutional democracy.”
“When you target the sitting president of the United States, you’re targeting the office and when you’re targeting the office of the president of the United States, you’re targeting democracy—you’re targeting our constitutional system of government,” Reyes said in the sentencing.