Budget freezes and firings
The administration’s attempt to freeze as much as $3 trillion in federal funding has stalled in two cases. An effort to gut the United States Agency for International Development is also at least partly on hold, as is an order to slash “overhead” at research labs funded through the National Institutes of Health. The courts have not yet blocked a separate freeze on foreign aid, but it has been challenged in court.
- Appeal · Feb. 11 Dellinger v. Bessent
The head of the Office of Special Counsel, a government watchdog agency, is suing for being fired. The case could have big implications for whether the administration can fire career civil servants. The day after the initial case was filed, the administration appealed, sending the case to a higher court.
- Appeal · Feb. 10 New York v. Trump
A memo from the White House budget office had demanded that billions of dollars in grants be withheld until it was determined that their uses comply with President Trump’s priorities and ideological agenda. Soon after Judge John McConnell Jr., an Obama appointee, ordered the White House to unfreeze the funds, the administration’s lawyers appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, asking the court to pause Judge McConnell’s order while their case was being considered.
- Temporary restraining order · Feb. 7 American Federation of Government Employees v. Trump
Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, issued a temporary restraining order pausing the imminent administrative leave of 2,200 U.S.A.I.D. employees and a plan to withdraw nearly all of the agency’s overseas workers within 30 days. He also ordered the temporary reinstatement of 500 agency employees already on administrative leave.
- Temporary restraining order · Feb. 3 National Council of Nonprofits v. Office of Management and Budget
Judge Loren L. Alikhan, a Biden appointee, issued a temporary restraining order temporarily blocking the administration’s order to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans.
- Storch v. Hegseth
Eight former inspectors general who were summarily fired by President Trump filed a lawsuit asking a judge to declare their removals illegal and order the government to reinstate them.
- Harris v. Bessent
- Global Health Council v. Trump
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. National Institutes of Health
- AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition v. Department of State
- Association of American Medical Colleges v. National Institutes of Health
- National Treasury Employees Union v. Vought
- Government Accountability Project v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- Wilcox v. Trump
- National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education v. Trump
- AMICA Center for Immigrant Rights v. D.O.J.
- American Federation of Government Employees v. Trump
- Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility v. Trump
- National Treasury Employees Union v. Trump
Birthright citizenship
On his first day back in office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship. Under the order, the government would stop treating children as U.S. citizens if they are born in the United States to parents who are undocumented or are in the country legally but temporarily.
- Appeal · Feb. 7 Washington v. Trump
Appeals the preliminary injunction issued by Judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee, indefinitely blocking President Trump’s attempt to unilaterally eliminate automatic U.S. citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants on U.S. soil.
- OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates v. Rubio
- County of Santa Clara v. Trump
- Aleman v. Trump
- New Jersey v. Trump
- New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support v. Trump
- Le v. Trump
- Doe v. Trump
DOGE
At the heart of much of the action is Elon Musk’s initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not an official department or division but has amassed extraordinary power, ostensibly to cut costs and reorder the government.
- Temporary restraining order · Feb. 8 New York v. Trump
Judge Jeannette Vargas, a Biden appointee, issued a temporary restraining order, restricting access by Elon Musk’s government efficiency program to the Treasury Department’s payment and data systems, saying there was a risk of “irreparable harm.”
- Nemeth-Greenleaf v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- American Federation of Teachers v. Bessent
- Electronic Privacy Information Center v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- National Treasury Employees Union v. Vought
- University of California Student Association v. Carter
- American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations v. Department of Labor
- American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. Ezell
- Alliance for Retired Americans v. Bessent
- Doe v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- Burns v. Trump
- Public Citizen v. Trump
- American Public Health Association v. Office of Management and Budget
- Lentini v. DOGE
Immigration
Opponents are also challenging immigration policies, including the administration’s efforts to: authorize immigration agents to enter houses of worship, speed up and broaden the scope of deportations and make it harder for refugees to claim asylum in the United States. San Francisco and other cities also sued to block an executive order that would withhold federal funds from cities that do not assist with enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Trans rights
Several lawsuits challenge the Trump administration’s move to prohibit recognizing transgender Americans according to their gender identity. The lawsuits oppose the administration’s efforts to place transgender women who are federal prisoners in men’s housing and to end gender-transition medical treatments for inmates. They also challenge attempts to bar trans people from the military, withhold federal funding from hospitals that offer gender-related treatment to patients younger than 19 and prevent transgender people from reflecting their gender identities on U.S. passports.
- Temporary restraining order · Feb. 4 Doe v. McHenry III
Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Bureau of Prisons from enacting President Trump’s executive order to house transgender women with male inmates and stop medical treatment related to gender transitions.
- Temporary restraining order · Jan. 26 Moe v. Trump
Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., a Clinton appointee, issued a temporary restraining order applicable only to the anonymous transgender plaintiff given the pseudonym Maria Moe.
- Jones v. Trump
- Washington v. D.O.J.
- Orr v. Trump
- Emily v. Trump
- PFLAG v. Trump
- Talbott v. Trump
Jan. 6 Capitol riot
F.B.I. agents and employees have sued to block Mr. Trump from releasing the names of agents and staff members who helped investigate the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, trying to head off what they fear is a looming purge.
- Temporary restraining order · Feb. 7 Does v. D.O.J.
Judge Jia M. Cobb, a Biden appointee, issued a temporary restraining order barring the government from releasing the list of law enforcement officials who had played a role in investigating Jan. 6.
- Federal Bureau of Investigations Agents Association v. D.O.J.
C.D.C. data
A left-leaning advocacy group is suing the administration after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took down online information about environmental justice, H.I.V. treatments, fertility clinics and recruiting diverse populations for clinical trials. The plaintiffs claim that taking down the information violates the Administrative Procedure Act and will slow down medical research.
- Preliminary injunction · Feb. 11 Doctors for America v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a preliminary injunction requiring the C.D.C. to temporarily restore the pages it took down from its website. The pages were taken down to comply with President Trump’s executive order banning any references to race, gender identity and sexual orientation.