By Jack Queen
(Reuters) -Key parts of Donald Trump’s agenda have met resistance in court from federal judges, who have issued more than 70 rulings impeding the Republican president’s efforts on a range of issues. These have included deportations, birthright citizenship, government spending, transgender service in the military, punitive directives against law firms and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Here is a look at some of the more than 200 lawsuits filed by various plaintiffs to try to block Trump policies as he approaches the 100-day mark of his second term as president on Wednesday.
IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 19 temporarily barred Trump’s administration from deporting Venezuelan men in immigration custody after their lawyers said they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices. The administration has alleged that the Venezuelans are members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang. Family members and lawyers for the migrants have disputed this.
Three federal judges subsequently criticized the administration’s approach to immigration and temporarily halted new deportations in their judicial districts under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law historically used only in wartime that Trump invoked as justification to remove certain people without hearings or other legal safeguards.
One of the judges, overseeing the case of a Salvadoran man living in Maryland who the administration has acknowledged was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, rebuked the government for trying to circumvent an order blocking additional deportations and misleading the court about its actions. The two other judges voiced doubts about the legality of the administration’s moves and temporarily barred it from removing additional detainees while they consider longer-lasting orders.
Federal judges have issued at least 19 orders halting or curtailing for now the administration’s ability to conduct mass deportations, defund refugee resettlement programs and restrict automatic birthright citizenship. Many of those rulings are under appeal.
The administration has won at least nine rulings in cases in which judges have declined to block the government from carrying out immigration raids in places of worship, mothballing an entry app for migrants and sending certain detainees to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
The Supreme Court has scheduled arguments on May 15 over Trump’s bid to broadly enforce his executive order to restrict automatic birthright citizenship. The court did not immediately act on a request by Trump’s administration to narrow the scope of three nationwide injunctions issued by judges blocking the policy.
At issue is Trump’s executive order that directed federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States who do not have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. Challengers argued that Trump’s order violates a right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is a citizen.
GOVERNMENT SPENDING
Federal judges issued several rulings blocking Trump’s administration from freezing trillions of dollars in grants, loans and other federal financial assistance. Elements of those orders remain in force despite administration efforts to walk back aspects of the policies.
Judges also separately blocked the administration’s bid to claw back $20 billion in clean energy project grants, cut $11 billion in public health funds allocated to states and curtail funding for research at universities, medical centers and other institutions.
The administration has had better luck in its efforts to downsize and reshape the government through its Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has been spearheaded by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk.
Multiple judges had ordered thousands of fired federal workers reinstated after finding their terminations were likely illegal, but appeals courts later paused those rulings. While some judges have barred DOGE from accessing federal databases, others have cleared it to scour agencies for possible savings.
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
The administration asked the Supreme Court on April 24 to allow implementation of Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, one of a series of Trump directives to curb transgender rights.
Trump’s efforts targeting transgender rights have been slowed down in court, with judges issuing at least 14 orders blocking his military ban as well as his policies to house inmates in federal prisons corresponding to their birth sex and to restrict gender-transition care for people under age of 19.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION PROGRAMS
Four judges have temporarily blocked the administration from enforcing Trump’s executive orders terminating diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs in the U.S. government and requiring recipients of federal grant funds to certify that they do not run DEI programs that violate anti-discrimination laws. Some conservatives have argued that such policies discriminate against white people and certain others.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS TARGETING LAW FIRMS
Four judges have blocked for now Trump’s punitive executive orders placing restrictions on four major law firms, deeming the directives as likely acts of retaliation for speech protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment. Trump has targeted law firms that have represented clients who have challenged his policies in court, have employed lawyers who have been involved in prosecutorial investigations against Trump at the federal and state levels or represent people who previously have investigated him.
TARIFFS AND TRADE WAR
The administration faces at least seven lawsuits challenging Trump’s sweeping tariffs against foreign trading partners. The suits accuse Trump of overstepping his authority under the Constitution by imposing the duties without congressional authorization. A judge in one of the cases denied a request for a temporary restraining order but still could impose a preliminary injunction blocking the tariffs. The other six cases have yet be ruled on.
(Compiled by Jack Queen in New York; editing by Noeleen Walder, Amy Stevens and Will Dunham)
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