The courts were doing brisk business on Thursday as an avalanche of orders came rolling out — many of them in cases involving the Department of Education. I am not going to lie, the fact that all of these semi-related rulings in multiple different jurisdictions (D.C., Maryland, New Hampshire) came out on the same day had me scratching my head and wondering at what game was afoot, until the light bulb finally went off: Today was the deadline by which state educational agencies needed to certify their compliance with the "Dear Colleague" letter issued by the ED in February. 

I feel better now that I figured that out — not better about all the rulings, mind you; just better that the timing at least makes sense. Something else that doesn't quite make sense, however, is the administration's decision to dismiss its appeal in the State of California case (pending in Massachusetts, mind you — there are multiple state plaintiffs). That's one in which the Supreme Court actually granted a stay pending disposition of the appeal, so I'm not sure what the strategy is there. 

But it wasn't just ED-related cases in the spotlight today. There was election integrity, funding of sanctuary cities and states, OMB funding pauses, immigration — and pretty much none of these rulings went the administration's way today. (And, for the record, several of the judges issuing them are Trump appointees.) Of course, none of these is the final say in any of the cases. Just one more speed bump along the way. 

So, without further ado, here's Thursday's round-up:

I also want to mention something I've not really had an opportunity to study at length yet, and that is that some key documents were unsealed in the Alien Enemies Act case (J.A.V. v. Trump — this is the Texas offshoot of the J.G.G. case that was overseen by Judge Boasberg in D.C.). These are worth a deeper dive, and I aim to do just that once I get this published. 

RELATED: New: Federal Judge Blocks Part of Trump's EO Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote

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And, of course, no Evening Docket would be complete without a sampling of the new suits filed that day, so here's a sampling: 

You can check out prior installments of The Evening Docket series here.

Editor's Note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure America's kids get the education they deserve.

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