Overview
- The Associated Press found district judges have ruled since February 2025 that the administration violated orders in at least 31 lawsuits spanning federal funding cuts, mass layoffs, deportations, and immigration practices.
- Judges also flagged more than 250 recent lapses in individual immigration cases, including failures to return seized property and detentions that continued past court-ordered release dates.
- Rulings cited examples such as deporting accused gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador, withholding billions in foreign aid, and not restoring Voice of America programming, which affected immigrants, nonprofits, and journalists.
- Trump officials later complied in about a third of the lawsuits, while Justice Department filings disputed noncompliance and a White House spokeswoman called the district court rulings unlawful.
- In 15 of the 31 cases, appellate courts or the Supreme Court allowed the policies or narrowed trial judges’ remedies, prompting criticism from Justice Sonia Sotomayor and scholars who warn the scale is unusual compared with recent presidencies.