A federal district judge blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending refugee admissions Tuesday, the latest in a string of court rulings both for and against the Trump administration, as Trump and cost-cutting czar Elon Musk have implemented sweeping changes across the federal government.
President Donald Trump waits to greet French President Emmanuel Macron as he arrives at the White ... [+]
Plaintiffs including Democratic attorneys general, federal workers, labor unions, nonprofits and other groups have brought dozens of lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s activities in the weeks since Trump’s inauguration, as Republicans’ control of the White House and Congress has made legal action Democrats’ primary way of challenging Trump’s policies.
All of the lawsuits are still playing out in court and none have yet resulted in any final rulings, but a number of temporary rulings have been issued that either block policies while litigation moves forward, or allow various orders to stay in place until there’s a more lasting ruling.
The litigation is still subject to change: Judges who have ruled in the Trump administration’s favor so far could still issue future rulings that block their policies, and vice versa, and rulings both for and against the government are likely to be appealed to higher courts.
Immigration: Litigation is still pending on the suspension of refugee admissions, asylum restrictions, raids on sanctuary cities, withholding funds from sanctuary cities, immigration officers entering houses of worship, restricting grants to immigration-related groups, the “expedited removal” of immigrants and the administration shutting down the CBP One app used by asylum seekers.
DOGE: Multiple lawsuits are still pending that challenge Trump’s authority in establishing DOGE altogether, and various groups are also seeking to block Musk and his associates’ access to data at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management, Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration. Left-leaning watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has also filed a lawsuit claiming DOGE has “provided no meaningful transparency into its operations,” which asks the court to force DOGE to comply with requests for federal documents and recover any lost or destroyed records.
Federal Workers: The Trump administration’s and DOGE’s widespread cuts to the federal workforce have resulted in a number of lawsuits, including cases challenging the mass layoffs and Trump firing inspectors general. Gwynne Wilcox, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board, has also challenged her firing in court, and multiple lawsuits challenge Trump’s “Schedule F” order that makes it easier to fire career civil servants. A lawsuit challenging the DOJ’s targeting of officials involved with the Jan. 6 investigations is still pending, but the court has ordered the government not to disseminate any list of names of FBI officials involved with those investigations while the litigation is pending. Labor unions who were already suing the Trump administration over the mass firings of federal employees also filed an amended complaint Monday to add in a challenge to Musk’s email to federal workers directing them to respond with what they did over the past week or else be fired, with the unions arguing the Office of Personnel Management’s request for workers to respond to the email or face termination does not follow proper government procedures.
Transgender Rights: Lawsuits are still pending challenging a number of the Trump administration’s restrictions on transgender Americans’ rights, including the ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, the requirement that passports must reflect an individual’s biological sex and the reinstated ban on transgender Americans serving in the military.
Federal Funding: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, sued the Trump administration to reinstate lost funding, after the federal government’s funding freeze allegedly resulted in Pennsylvania losing funding even after courts ordered the funds to be sent out. New York City has also sued the Trump administration to claw back federal money, after the federal government allegedly canceled $80 million in already-disbursed FEMA funds to New York City.
Climate Change: Environmental groups sued the Trump administration over the president’s order saying parts of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf can be used for oil and gas leasing—reversing an action by former President Joe Biden—with the plaintiffs arguing Trump exceeded his authority in doing so. Environmental and farming organizations also brought a lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, arguing they’ve been harmed by the government’s decision to delete information on climate change from government websites.
Congestion Pricing: New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority has asked a federal court to invalidate Trump’s order directing the city to cancel its congestion pricing, which charges vehicles a daily fee to drive in more crowded parts of Manhattan. The city argued that Trump cannot unilaterally cancel the program and it will not cease the program just because he said so, given that it’s a state program, but it still wants the court to declare Trump’s order “null and void.”
The Trump administration has defended the administration’s policies in court even when they’ve broadly gone against the views of most legal experts, such as claiming the 14th Amendment does not guarantee birthright citizenship.The administration’s lawyers have particularly drawn scrutiny in the Democratic states’ lawsuit over Musk’s authority, which has led the government’s attorneys to downplay the billionaire’s influence, even as both Trump and Musk have credited the Tesla CEO with sweeping cuts. The Justice Department’s attorneys have also drawn scrutiny for being unable to tell judges the number of workers that have been fired, and who in the government was serving as DOGE’s administrator.
Judges have often criticized the government’s policies or made plain they violate federal law, with Judge Lauren King arguing the executive order banning gender-affirming care for minors “promises serious harm to children” and is a “blunderbuss” in actually accomplishing the administration’s stated goal of protecting children. Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, wrote in his ruling blocking Trump’s birthright citizenship order that “The president cannot change, limit, or qualify this Constitutional right via an executive order.” Judges have also expressed concern even when they’ve ruled in the government’s favor, with Chutkan acknowledging in her ruling allowing DOGE’s activities to continue that Democratic-led states “legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual,” referring to Musk.
So far, yes. While legal experts raised alarm after Vice President JD Vance suggested in February that judges “aren’t allowed to control the executive's legitimate power,” there is so far no indication that the Trump administration has intentionally not complied with rulings against it, and the administration has taken pains in court filings to say it is following court orders.
Dellinger’s case is so far the only lawsuit since Trump’s inauguration that’s made it to the Supreme Court, but given the high stakes of the policies now being challenged, more are likely to follow. It’s unclear how the 6-3 conservative court, which includes three Trump appointees, will ultimately rule on any challenges, though legal experts have suggested some of the administration’s moves may be too much for even the conservative-leaning court to get behind. Georgetown Law School professor Stephen Vladeck wrote he was skeptical the Supreme Court would back the administration’s memo halting federal funding, for instance, giving Trump “the right to refuse to spend any and all money Congress appropriates.”
Many of Trump’s policies still haven’t resulted in litigation, but could in the future. Among the policies that haven’t yet been challenged in court are him pulling out of the World Health Organization, imposing tariffs on China, removing safeguards around artificial intelligence, and rescinding Biden-era climate change initiatives, including ordering federal agencies not to disburse some funding that was approved by Congress.