Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration since day one, challenging everything from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to executive orders on birthright citizenship and funding for institutions that provide child gender transitions.
Several cases involve significant questions of executive power that are likely to be resolved ultimately by the Supreme Court. Some have already reached the justices on an emergency basis, as the administration argued lower court judges blocking aspects of President Donald Trump’s agenda were exceeding their authority.
Below are some of the biggest issues making their way through the courts.
Elon Musk’s DOGE
DOGE and the actions taken by Musk’s team to reduce government spending have been a primary target for lawsuits.
The results of these challenges have been mixed: On Monday, a district court judge, who noted DOGE’s “unusual secrecy,” found that DOGE is likely subject to public records requests.
“The authority exercised by USDS across the federal government and the dramatic cuts it has apparently made with no congressional input appear to be unprecedented,” Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, wrote Monday.
In lawsuits challenging DOGE’s access to Treasury Department data, several judges have declined to restrict access. Clinton-appointed Judge Kollar-Kotelly did not block DOGE’s access on Friday after temporarily restricting it to just two employees.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, the Obama-appointed judge who oversaw Trump’s federal Jan. 6 indictment last year, handed the Trump administration a key victory by declining Feb. 18 to grant a request from Democratic attorneys general to temporarily block DOGE’s access to data systems at multiple agencies.
“The court is aware that DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for Plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents,” Chutkan wrote. “But the ‘possibility’ that Defendants may take actions that irreparably harm Plaintiffs ‘is not enough.’”
Yet DOGE employees are still limited from accessing the Treasury’s payment system under a February ruling from a federal judge in New York. (RELATED: Lawyers Already Trying To Use Trump’s Address To Congress As ‘New Evidence’ Against DOGE)
A judge blocked the Department of Education and Office of Personnel Management from sharing some “sensitive personal information” in February.
Several groups also sued in February to prevent DOGE from accessing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data.
Spending Freezes
One of the first emergency applications from the Trump administration the Supreme Court has had to confront was related to the freeze on foreign aid spending.
Biden-appointed federal Judge Amir Ali found Monday that the foreign aid spending freeze was unlawful, issuing a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing the freeze.
“The Executive not only claims his constitutional authority to determine how to spend appropriated funds, but usurps Congress’s exclusive authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place,” he wrote.
The Supreme Court previously declined to halt Ali’s previous temporary restraining order requiring the administration to pay out $2 billion in foreign aid funds, which Ali initially gave the administration 36 hours to fulfill. Justice Samuel Alito, in a dissent joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, said he was “stunned” by their failure to call out “judicial hubris.”
“As the Nation’s highest court, we have a duty to ensure that the power entrusted to federal judges by the Constitution is not abused,” Alito wrote.
In a separate lawsuit brought by Democratic state attorneys general challenging the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze, Judge John McConnell held March 6 that the freeze “fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government.”
“It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending,” McConnell, an Obama appointee, wrote in his decision.
Firing Federal Workers
Employees who have been terminated across multiple agencies also filed legal challenges to reclaim their positions.
In a lawsuit brought by several labor unions and nonprofits, Judge William Alsup, a Clinton appointee, found Feb. 27 that the termination of probationary employees was likely illegal.
Twenty Democrat state attorneys general also sued over the Office of Personnel Management directive to terminate probationary employees on Thursday.
Bounds Of Executive Authority
Multiple executive branch officials fired by Trump sued to reclaim their jobs, including former leaders of the Merit Systems Protection Board and Federal Labor Relations Authority.
In a decision Thursday, Obama-appointed Judge Beryl Howell held Gwynne Wilcox’s removal from the National Labor Relations Board was illegal.
Hampton Dellinger, former head of the Office of Special Counsel, received the most attention for his lawsuit, which he dropped March 6 after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Trump administration in allowing his removal. Dellinger noted he would be unlikely to succeed at the Supreme Court.
The D.C. Circuit panel wrote in an opinion issued Monday that the government “has sufficiently demonstrated that Dellinger exercises at least enough authority to contradict the President’s directives,” finding the government was likely to succeed on the merits.
The Supreme Court dismissed the matter as moot after Dellinger dropped his challenge. The Trump administration had asked the justices to consider the issue on an emergency basis after a district court ordered Dellinger’s reinstatement.
The Trump administration has signaled its intent to argue that Supreme Court precedent limiting presidents from removing some federal officials without cause, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, should be overturned.
Another lawsuit filed by the Democratic party alleges Trump’s executive order asserting control over agencies could jeopardize independence the party relies on in the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The case was assigned to Judge Ali, a former Democrat donor and clerk for the Supreme Court of Canada who also ruled against the administration’s foreign aid spending freeze.
Executive Orders
Democrat-aligned groups and states have quickly filed lawsuits against Trump’s executive orders on gender ideology, birthright citizenship and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), some within hours of signing.
Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship has been blocked in multiple district courts and three federal appeals courts.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals held Tuesday that the Trump administration did not make a “strong showing” that states named in the lawsuit lacked standing to challenge the order.
“The Government expressly declines to make any developed argument that it is likely to succeed on appeal in showing that the Executive Order is either constitutional or compliant with 8 U.S.C. § 1401,” Chief Judge David Barron, an Obama appointee, wrote. “Nor does the Government contest that, for more than a century, persons in the two categories that the Executive Order seeks to prevent from being recognized as United States citizens have been so recognized.”
A federal judge in Maryland blocked in February parts of Trump’s orders on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government.
Trump’s orders on gender ideology and restricting federal funding to institutions that offer child gender transitions were also quickly met with lawsuits.
Two judges have ordered the administration to maintain funding to hospitals that provide child sex changes. Another judge has blocked the transfer of transgender-identifying inmates into facilities that align with their biological sex.
Judge Howell temporarily blocked on Wednesday portions of Trump’s executive order directing government contractors to disclose if they do business with the law firm Perkins Coie, which represented Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Democrats, and limiting access to government buildings for employees of the firm.
Featured Image Credit: Marc Nozell
