There’s an old saying: “When it rains, it pours.” And for Donald Trump, the legal downpour shows no signs of stopping. On Tuesday, multiple judges struck down his policies, making it clear that his second term is already off to a rocky start. From banning transgender troops to shutting down government agencies, Trump’s most significant plans are crumbling under legal scrutiny.
One of Trump’s first significant defeats came when U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that Elon Musk, through Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), illegally attempted to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Chuang said that only Congress—not Trump or Musk—can decide if an agency should be closed. The judge ordered USAID employees placed on leave to regain access to their email and computers.
But Trump’s legal troubles didn’t stop there. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ruled that Trump’s transgender military ban was likely unconstitutional. She pointed out the irony of banning transgender troops, many of whom have risked their lives to protect the very rights Trump was trying to take away. “Thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed—some risking their lives—to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them,” Reyes wrote.
Trump also faced a setback in his fight against climate change policies. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan blocked his administration from canceling $14 billion in grants for three climate groups. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led by Lee Zeldin, had accused the organizations of fraud, but the judge was unconvinced. She ruled that the government failed to provide a valid reason for cutting the funding and stopped the EPA from ending the $20 billion green bank program.
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Trump’s attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs also hit a wall in Maryland. U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ruled that the Department of Education acted unfairly when it cut $600 million in teacher training grants. She warned that cutting these funds would hurt students, especially in underprivileged schools. “The cuts could have a grave effect on the public: fewer teachers for students in high-need neighborhoods, early childhood education, and special education programs,” Rubin wrote.
Meanwhile, in New York, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman stopped the Trump administration from deporting Mahmoud Khalil, a detained Columbia University graduate. Furman ruled that Khalil cannot be deported while his lawsuit is ongoing, blocking yet another one of Trump’s controversial immigration moves.
Unsurprisingly, Trump lashed out on Truth Social, furiously attacking the judges and their rulings:
“If a President doesn’t have the right to throw murderers, and other criminals, out of our Country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our Country is in very big trouble, and destined to fail!”
His close ally Stephen Miller also jumped in, calling the rulings “the most egregious theft one can imagine: robbing the vote and voice of the American People.”
But the truth is, Trump has a habit of rushing policies without considering if they are legal. That’s why courts keep stopping them. Norm Eisen, a lawyer fighting against the USAID shutdown, said the ruling was “an important victory against Elon Musk and his DOGE attack on USAID, the US government, and the Constitution. They are performing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel, harming not just the people USAID serves but the majority of Americans who count on the stability of our government.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
