While Donald Trump has been rapidly issuing executive orders since his return to the White House last month, some federal judges have been zealously ruling to block or restrict his administration from implementing them.
Whether it’s his effort to eliminate wasteful government spending, reduce the size of government, stop illegal immigration, or affirm the biological realities of gender, judges have taken it upon themselves to combat his actions.
“Opponents are hoping the courts will serve as a check on the president's plans,” Newsweek reported Tuesday in an article titled “Full List of Judges Who Have Thwarted the Trump Administration So Far.”
The article describes how 11 federal judges have “have blocked or restricted” eight of President Donald Trump’s initiatives.
Freeze of Federal Funding During Audit:
- Judge Loren AliKhan blocked the funding freeze, extended block, required administration to tell agencies not to implement freeze.
- John McConnell blocked funding freeze.
Ending Birthright Citizenship for Illegal Alien Children:
- Judge John Coughenour blocked Trump's executive order.
- Judge Joseph Laplante blocked Trump’s executive order.
- Judge Deborah Boardman ordered a pause on Trump's executive order.
Review of Wasteful Spending by Treasury Department:
- Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a preliminary junction blocking Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Treasury Department records.
Dismissal of employee heading the Office of Special Counsel:
- Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered reinstatement of the employee Trump fired.
Cuts to funding of health care research grants:
- Judge Angel Kelley blocked the Trump administration’s funding cuts.
Transfer of biologically-male inmates to men’s facilities and denial of their requests for hormone treatments.
- Judge Royce Lamberth temporarily blocked prison officials from transferring biological males to male prisons and from ending their hormone therapy treatments.
- Judge George O'Toole Jr. issued a temporary restraining order against transfer of biological males to male prisons and termination of hormone therapy.
Placement of 3,000 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on paid leave:
- Judge Carl Nichols ordered a temporary halt.
Incentive for federal employees to resign:
- George O'Toole Jr. temporarily blocked the incentive offer.
As Newsweek notes, Judge Jackson has exhibited animus towards President Trump and has presided over cases convicting two of his former associates:
“She became known for her criticism of the first Trump administration's actions and presided over several prosecutions stemming from the Russia investigation, including the prosecutions of Roger Stone and Paul Manafort.”
By region, the 11 federal judges who took action to override the authority of the Executive Branch preside in the following U.S. District Courts:
- The District of Columbia: 4
- Massachusetts: 2
- Maryland: 1
- The Western District of Washington: 1
- The Southern District of New York: 1
- New Hampshire: 1
- Rhode Island: 1
By president, three of the judges were appointed by Joe Biden (AliKhan, Boardman, Kelley), three by Barack Obama (Engelmayer, Jackson, McConnell), two by Ronald Reagan (Coughenour, Lamberth), one by George W. Bush (Laplante), one by Bill Clinton (O'Toole Jr.) and one by Donald Trump (Nichols).
Elon Musk, who heads the new Department of Government Efficiency created by Trump, has called for the impeachment of judges who overstep their authority in order to oppose Executive Branch actions by the president.