President Donald Trump’s agenda has been met with a wave of lawsuits since he took office in January, and legal experts say many of them will likely end up in the Supreme Court’s hands.
‘President Trump is certainly being aggressive in terms of flexing executive power and not at all surprised that these are being challenged,’ John Malcolm, vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital.
Trump kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive orders and directives that have since been the targets of a flood of legal challenges. Since Trump’s day 1, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed over the administration’s actions, including the president’s birthright citizenship order, immigration policies, federal funding freezes, federal employee buyouts, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and legal action against FBI and DOJ employees.
‘Many of these cases may end up on the Supreme Court, but certainly the birthright citizenship,’ Malcolm said. ‘If there ends up being a split among the courts, that issue will certainly be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.’
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean at UC Berkeley School of Law, said Trump ‘has issued a myriad of orders violating the Constitution and federal laws’ and noted that ‘Many already have been enjoined by the courts.’
‘The crucial question is whether the president will defy these orders,’ Chemerinsky told Fox News Digital.
‘Almost without exception, throughout American history, presidents have complied with Supreme Court orders even when they strongly disagree with them.’
In one of the most recent developments, a Rhode Island federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds, claiming the administration did not adhere to a previous order to do so. The Trump administration appealed the order to the First Circuit shortly thereafter, which was ultimately denied.
‘Judges ordering the federal government to spend billions of dollars when the administration is saying that that is not in the best interests of the United States, I would expect that issue to be on a fast track to the U.S. Supreme Court,’ Malcolm said.
Many of these lawsuits have been filed in historically left-leaning federal court jurisdictions, including Washington federal court and D.C. federal court. Various challenges have already been appealed to the appellate courts, including the Ninth and First Circuits, which notably hand down more progressive rulings. The Ninth Circuit, in particular, has a higher reversal rate than other circuit courts.
‘Judge shopping is nothing new,’ Malcolm said. ‘So I’m not at all surprised that these lawsuits challenging the Trump administration are being filed, for the most part, in the bluest of blue areas where the odds are high that the judge who’s going to be considering the issue has a liberal orientation.’
Despite the variety of ongoing legal challenges, Malcolm said he believes the Trump administration is on more solid footing when it comes to cases concerning firing political appointees. On Monday, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden to lead the Office of Special Counsel, sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court after he was fired on Friday.
Malcolm said Trump’s second term will continue to see a wave of litigation as he continues to implement his agenda, similar to his predecessors, including Biden.
Malcolm particularly noted the Biden administration’s efforts to redefine sex in Title IX as ‘gender identity.’ A Kentucky federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s attempt in early January.
‘There are a lot of these issues that end up coming up,’ Malcolm said, looking back on Biden’s Title IX legal challenges. ‘And I suspect that the same sorts of issues will come up during the Trump administration, and they’ll be full employment for lawyers throughout his entire term.’