Pentagon boss Pete Hegseth’s “War on Woke” has been dealt a blow after a federal judge ordered his department to restock military school libraries with banned books about equality and diversity.
In a move welcomed by students who sued Hegseth earlier this year, Biden-appointed judge Patricia Giles has temporarily blocked the book removals, declaring that they likely violated First Amendment rights.
Some of the 600 books that were banned included An ABC of Equality by Chana Ginelle Ewing, several volumes of Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper novel series about a friendship and romance between two schoolboys, and You Call This Democracy? by Elizabeth Rusch.
The ruling means that the Pentagon will now have to return all banned books to five Department of Defense Education Activity schools on military bases in the U.S. and overseas.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the injunction, which comes only weeks after Hegseth ordered top generals to a meeting in Virginia where he bragged about eliminating DEI from the military.
“We became the woke department. But not anymore,” he told them.
But Kasey Meehan from PEN America, which tracks book bans across the country, welcomed the decision, describing it as a “solid first step in a long road to restoring and protecting students’ freedom to read in schools run for military families.”
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed in April by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of students at schools on military bases in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan.
The students—children of active duty service members ranging from pre-K to 11th grade—had challenged three executive orders Trump implemented, which aimed to prohibit agencies and military schools from promoting theories his administration deems divisive, such as racism, sexism and gender ideology.
The preliminary injunction will be in place as litigation continues. The plaintiffs had also asked for relief across all DODEA schools, but Giles denied this, in part, because “the Supreme Court recently held that universal injunctions likely exceed the power Congress granted to federal courts.”
However, the injunction is a blow to Hegseth, the former Fox News host who has made it his mission to dismantle DEI initiatives.
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction or gender delusions. No more debris,” he told generals at last month’s meeting in Quantico.
“As I’ve said before and will say again: we are done with that s---.”
Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, welcomed the judge’s decision.
“This is an important victory for students in DoDEA schools and anyone who values full libraries and vibrant classrooms,” she said in a statement.
