California has sued Trump 15 times in his first 100 days. Where do those cases stand?

At a proceeding successful Boston successful March, U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun asked attorneys for a conjugation of states what they stood to suffer if helium didn’t instantly intervene to artifact hundreds of millions of dollars successful Trump medication cuts to teacher grooming programs nationwide.

“Your Honor, the concern is dire,” California Deputy Atty. Gen. Laura Faer responded. “Right now, arsenic we speak, our programs crossed the authorities are facing the anticipation of closure and dissolution and termination.”

Joun rapidly issued a impermanent restraining bid blocking the cuts arsenic “arbitrary and capricious,” a triumph for the states. But little than a period later, the Supreme Court reversed that decision, uncovering the states had failed to refute an medication assertion that it would beryllium “unlikely to recover” the funds if they were disbursed amid the litigation.

It was a nonaccomplishment for the state, but not the extremity of the combat implicit the teacher training. It was besides conscionable 1 of galore ongoing tribunal battles successful a overmuch larger ineligible warfare being waged against the Trump medication by California and its allies.

During President Trump’s archetypal 100 days successful office, California has connected mean challenged the medication successful tribunal much than doubly a week, according to an investigation by The Times. It has filed 15 lawsuits against the administration, each but 1 alongside different states, and filed briefs successful enactment of different litigants suing the national authorities successful astatine slightest 18 further cases.

Attorneys successful California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s bureau person been working astatine a blistering pace to draught and record analyzable ineligible arguments opposing Trump’s policies connected immigration, the economy, tariffs, LGBTQ+ rights, national worker layoffs, authorities oversight, the allocation of national backing to states and localities, the limits of the president’s enforcement authorization and the slash-and-burn budgetary tactics of his billionaire advisor Elon Musk.

Along the way, the authorities has won victories that person slowed Trump’s docket and could artifact immoderate of his policies permanently. It has won aggregate impermanent restraining orders and preliminary injunctions blocking Trump argumentation measures, including a sweeping frost of trillions of dollars successful national backing that Congress had already allocated to the states, and a Trump executive bid to extremity birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of definite immigrants.

California besides has suffered losses successful court, with judges successful immoderate instances allowing medication policies to instrumentality clasp portion the authorities argues for their eventual reversal. Higher courts person reversed a mates of restraining orders sought by the authorities and granted by territory tribunal judges, including the 1 connected teacher mentation grants and different that had halted Trump’s wide firing of federal probationary employees.

The authorities besides was denied an exigency bid to artifact Musk’s workout of sweeping power implicit the national budget.

Bonta acknowledged the setbacks but noted they denied exigency alleviation lone — without reaching immoderate last conclusions astir the underlying legality of the administration’s actions oregon the merits of the state’s challenges to them.

“We person not mislaid immoderate lawsuit substantively astatine this point, and we’ve had large successes,” Bonta said.

What’s being litigated

All of the state’s lawsuits stay active, each astatine a antithetic signifier depending connected erstwhile they were filed and however accelerated judges person responded.

California filed its archetypal lawsuit, implicit Trump’s bid to rescind birthright citizenship, connected Jan. 21, the time aft Trump was inaugurated. It argued the bid is successful wide usurpation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states that “all persons calved oregon naturalized successful the United States, and taxable to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the authorities wherein they reside.”

Other groups sued connected the aforesaid grounds, and 3 national judges person issued orders striking down the argumentation nationwide arsenic unconstitutional. The Trump medication has appealed the rulings, arguing territory judges should not beryllium capable to contented nationwide orders, and the Supreme Court is acceptable to perceive arguments connected May 15.

It is unclear whether the precocious tribunal volition regularisation connected the constitutionality of Trump’s order, oregon simply connected the nationalist authorization of territory judges. Either way, Bonta said helium is bullish connected winning successful the end.

California and its allies secured aboriginal wins, too, with their 2nd lawsuit, challenging an Office of Management and Budget memo freezing trillions of dollars successful national backing pending a Trump medication reappraisal of whether the spending aligned with the president’s agenda.

Federal judges person blocked the frost and repeatedly ordered the merchandise of funding. The Trump medication has said it is complying with those orders — including arsenic precocious arsenic past week, erstwhile the medication filed a “notice of compliance” with a tribunal bid to merchandise Federal Emergency Management Agency backing that Bonta’s bureau argued was being withheld successful usurpation of the court’s orders.

California besides won a tribunal bid blocking employees from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing delicate Treasury Department data, though that bid has since been modified to let 1 circumstantial DOGE worker to entree specified data.

And it won a imperishable injunction to artifact sweeping cuts to National Institutes of Health backing for probe astatine institutions crossed the country, though the medication has said it volition entreaty the ruling.

Judges are successful the midst of reviewing briefings from California and the Trump medication successful aggregate different lawsuits, including claims by the authorities that exigency alleviation is needed and claims by the medication that the lawsuits deficiency merit.

Those see lawsuits successful which the authorities is challenging mass firings astatine the Department of Education, billions successful cuts to wellness and acquisition funding, a Trump enforcement bid requiring voters amusement impervious of citizenship and restricting message ballots, and Trump’s sweeping tariffs against overseas trading partners.

In the voting case, the tribunal is considering whether California’s lawsuit, brought with different states successful Massachusetts, should beryllium consolidated with akin lawsuits brought successful the District of Columbia, wherever judges person already blocked parts of Trump’s order. In the tariff case, which Bonta brought with Gov. Gavin Newsom, the tribunal is considering a Trump medication petition to transportation the proceedings to the U.S. Court of International Trade.

California’s latest lawsuit, challenging the Trump administration’s threat to revoke national funding from schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs, was conscionable filed Friday.

California besides has backed different litigants challenging the Trump administration.

Through what are known arsenic amicus briefs, the authorities has questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s prohibition connected transgender radical serving successful the military, threats to providers of gender-affirming aesculapian attraction for transgender youths, suspension of exile services, dismantling of asylum protections, rescinding of impermanent protected presumption for Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants, and politically motivated revocations of pupil visas.

It besides has questioned the administration’s dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, removal of members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Trade Commission, and attacks connected respective instrumentality firms whose ineligible enactment had riled the president.

Judges person paused respective of those policies arsenic a effect of the litigation — including the prohibition connected transgender work members, which Trump has present asked the Supreme Court to instrumentality up.

The broader stakes

The upland of litigation continues California’s starring absorption relation during Trump’s archetypal administration, which progressive immoderate 120 lawsuits implicit 4 years. The White House and different supporters of the president person sharply criticized the latest lawsuits arsenic conscionable much of the aforesaid from California liberals, who they allege are harming their ain constituents by refusing to respect the volition of voters who elected Trump.

“In caller years, California dreams person transformed into California nightmares of skyrocketing transgression and dystopian scenes of homelessness and open-air cause use,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said successful a connection to The Times. “The Trump medication is trying to reconstruct American Greatness, and if California Democrats would enactment with america — oregon astatine slightest not discarded payer resources to grandstand successful the mode — the radical of California would beryllium infinitely amended off.”

A U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson said the DOJ “will proceed to combat successful tribunal to support President Trump’s docket nary substance however galore frivolous lawsuits are filed.”

Bonta and different critics of the president spot it differently. They noted the authorities won often successful suing the archetypal Trump administration, and said they expect it to triumph galore of its existent cases, too.

They said the challenges are coming astatine a faster gait this word due to the fact that Trump is brazenly violating the law astatine a breakneck speed, with large implications for American democracy.

“We don’t instrumentality him to tribunal if he’s doing thing that’s lawful,” Bonta said.

Michael Sozan, a elder chap astatine the wide Center for American Progress, precocious co-authored a lengthy report accusing Trump of “smashing law and ineligible guardrails to physique an authoritarian presidency.” The study cited galore of the aforesaid Trump medication steps that California has sued over.

Sozan said states specified arsenic California are “acting arsenic a precise important bulwark against the caller imperial presidency,” and that Bonta and different authorities attorneys wide “are going to play a cardinal relation successful the months ahead,” too, arsenic Trump “tries to trial the boundaries of the instrumentality and of tribunal precedent and of democracy.”

Bonta said if Trump and different officials successful his medication “keep breaking the law,” California volition respond “every time.”

“We’ve got a afloat vessel of gas,” helium said. “We’re acceptable to go.”