The Trump administration has been forced to fight more than 100 lawsuits against their attempts to implement harmful initiatives and rollbacks. Lawsuits are now attacking major decisions made by President Donald Trump and his administration. As a result, federal judges have granted numerous anti-immigrant nationwide injunctions. Tied for first place among the controversial policies is Trump’s effort to stop automatic birthright citizenship, which has been met with huge legal backlash.
This time, Trump’s attempts ran into serious judicial opposition. US District Judge Ana Reyes dealt a strong blow to his executive order intended to peel back the legal protections of transgender Americans. Judge Reyes, appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden, said the order was likely unconstitutional. He focused on the promise of equal protection under the law. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that the President’s order violated the law. They pointed to a June 2020 US Supreme Court ruling, which found that employment discrimination against transgender people is considered sex discrimination under federal law.
To that point, the Trump administration’s treatment of military leadership has received bipartisan criticism. After appointing Pete Hegseth as the US Defense Secretary, Trump relieved General CQ Brown, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, from his duties. Most significantly, General Brown is Black. More egregiously, Trump fired the Navy’s top civilian boss—the first woman to serve in that role. These decisions have fueled the fires of outrage over diversity and representation within our military’s leadership.
Trump, along with adviser Elon Musk, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other administration officials, has recently criticized judges involved in blocking his policies. Online, Hegseth and other conservative agitators went after Judge Ana Reyes, accusing her of judicial activism.
"After that, Commander Reyes can dispatch to Fort Bragg to train our Green Berets on counterinsurgency warfare." – Pete Hegseth
"Since ‘Judge’ Reyes is now a top military planner, she/they can report to Fort Benning at 0600 to instruct our Army Rangers on how to execute High Value Target Raids," – Pete Hegseth
These comments are illustrative of a growing hostility from the White House to the independent judiciary. They highlight the obstacles that the Trump administration faces in its efforts to pursue its policies.