The rulings blocking or pausing Trump’s orders have prompted vows to appeal lower-court rulings— or impeach those who blocked them from taking effect.
The recent wave of preliminary injunctions from federal judges has stymied President Donald Trump’s early agenda in his second White House term, prompting new questions as to how far the administration might go if it opts to challenge these court orders.
Federal judges across the country have blocked Trump’s ban on transgender persons serving in the U.S. military, ordered the reinstatement of core functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, and halted Elon Musk’s government efficiency organization, DOGE, from oversight and access to government agencies, among other things. They’ve also temporarily halted deportations, or attempted to, so judges can consider the relevant laws.
Combined, the wave of rulings has been met with outrage from Trump administration officials, some of whom said they plan to appeal the rulings to the Supreme Court, if needed. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has used her podium to rail against «radical left-wing judges», who she has alleged are acting with a political agenda to block Trump’s executive orders.
«These judicial activists want to unilaterally stop President Trump from deporting foreign terrorists, hiring and firing executive branch employees, and determining the readiness of our troops», Leavitt said on X, expanding on remarks made Wednesday at a press briefing.
«They MUST be reined in», she added.
Some of Trump’s supporters in Congress have threatened judges who block the president’s agenda with impeachment, while his critics worry the president’s attacks on the judiciary will collapse the constitutional system, bringing to the fore an impassioned debate over the separation of powers in the Constitution.
Here’s a rundown of where things stand. Courts block Trump agenda
U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee, ruled on Tuesday that DOGE’s efforts to dismantle USAID «on an accelerated basis» likely violated the U.S. Constitution «in multiple ways» and ordered the partial restoration of the agency’s functions, including reinstatement of personnel access to email and payment systems.
Chuang’s preliminary injunction is believed to be the first to directly invoke Musk himself. It said Musk could interact with USAID employees only after being granted «express authorization» from an agency official, and it blocked DOGE from engaging in any further work at USAID.
Hours later, U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction barring the Pentagon from enforcing Trump’s order on transgender persons serving in the military.
Reyes, the first openly gay member of the court, wrote in a scathing 79-page ruling that the Trump administration failed to demonstrate that transgender service members would hinder military readiness, relying on what she described as «pure conjecture» to attempt to justify the policy and thus causing undue harm to thousands of current U.
