Editor’s Note: This article will be updated with additional lawsuits and information. Use the comments to contribute updates. Last update: March 26, 2025.
27 Lawsuits & Counting
America is fighting back against the Trump Administration’s overt attempts to dismantle government agencies, departments and funding mechanisms that are critical to the working class and everyday Americans. Each of his extreme actions leads to a new group of people who are impacted, and civil action groups and attorneys are working over time to bring lawsuits to the courts.
This roundup features headlines, excerpts and source links for various articles that highlight the suits filed against Trump and his extremist administration to date. Click the source links for each article for more information.
*As the lawsuits work their way through the courts and decisions are announced, updates will also be posted below the original lawsuit descriptions. Green will highlight decisions against the Trump administration; Pink signifies courts siding with the Trump administration. Yellow indicates that the decision is still in progress.*
Maine federal worker leading class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration
A federal worker from Maine is now leading a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration over the president’s Executive Orders over DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). The complaint was filed Wednesday before the Merit System Protection Board on behalf of the federal employees by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia and claims violations of the First Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Source: https://www.wmtw.com/article/maine-federal-worker-class-action-lawsuit-trump-dei/64299775
Columbia student sues Trump after official says her permanent legal status in the US is revoked
A federal judge in New York on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order blocking federal agents from detaining Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old Columbia student who is suing President Donald Trump. Judge Naomi Buchwald said her order would remain in effect until she can hold a hearing on Chung’s lawsuit. The student’s attorneys said the TRO means Chung “no longer has to live in fear.”
Update March 26, 2025: Federal judge issues temporary restraining order stopping federal agents from detaining Columbia University student
Trump officials face records lawsuit over Signal chat
A government watchdog group is suing national security leaders for their use of Signal to discuss military actions, saying the move violated the Federal Records Act (FRA). The suit from American Oversight, which routinely files public records requests, said the move obstructs their ability to access government documents.
Trump’s Cuts to Columbia Were a ‘Gun to the Head,’ Faculty Lawsuit Says
Two groups representing Columbia University faculty members on Tuesday sued the Trump administration over $400 million in federal funding cuts and demands that the school make dramatic changes to student discipline and admissions policies. The plaintiffs, the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers, asked a Manhattan federal court to restore the funding and argued that the cuts were unconstitutional.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/nyregion/columbia-faculty-lawsuit-funding-cuts.html
Teachers union, NAACP sue over Trump order to dismantle Education Department
A group of advocacy organizations and groups invested in schools sued the Trump administration on Monday over the president’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. The new lawsuit alleges President Trump exceeded his constitutional authority in trying to dismantle the department, as well as violating the Administrative Procedure Act.
Teachers sue Trump admin for stopping affordable student loan repayment plans
One of America’s largest unions is taking aim at President Donald Trump’s administration for shutting down access to affordable student loan repayment plans — saying the decision is “effectively breaking” the system. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), representing 1.8 million educators across the country, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., hoping to restore the programs that have now been shuttered for three weeks.
Democratic states sue Trump administration over dismantling of Education Department
Nearly two dozen Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration Thursday, seeking to halt an effort to lay off half of the Department of Education’s workforce. The suit comes two days after the federal agency fired more than 1,300 employees, focusing on those who track education quality and student achievement, as well as those who administer grants.
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/education-department-democratic-states-lawsuit/
Radio Free Europe sues after Trump administration halts funding
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty sued Kari Lake and the Trump administration Tuesday over efforts to defund the organization. Last week, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at eliminating the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which funds the radio station and Voice of America (VOA). Filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., the lawsuit says the radio station’s funding immediately froze and it has not been paid a $7.4 million invoice submitted Monday. The station claims the freeze undermines Congress’s power of the purse.
Update March 26, 2025: Judge freezes Trump plan to dismantle Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
ACLU and Democracy Forward Sue Trump Administration Over Expected Invocation of Alien Enemies Act
The American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward, and the ACLU of the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration today over the president’s expected unlawful and unprecedented invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. The Alien Enemies Act, passed in 1798, is a wartime authority providing that the president may — after a public proclamation — apprehend, restrain, and remove citizens of a foreign country that is engaged in a “declared war” or “invasion or predatory incursion” against the United States.
Update March 15, 2024: Judge blocks Trump from deporting 5 Venezuelans in anticipation of administration invoking wartime law
Trump administration sued for ending union bargaining for TSA officers
The largest federal employee union filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block President Donald Trump’s administration from ending collective bargaining for nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers that staff checkpoints at U.S. airports and other transportation hubs. The American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit in Seattle, Washington, federal court, claiming the U.S. Department of Homeland Security canceled a bargaining agreement covering TSA officers as retaliation against the union for challenging other Trump administration initiatives.
EPA froze ‘green bank’ funds worth billions, climate group suit says
A nonprofit that was awarded nearly $7 billion by the Biden administration to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects has sued President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, accusing it of improperly freezing a legally awarded grant. Climate United Fund, a coalition of three nonprofit groups, demanded access to a Citibank account it received through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program created in 2022 by the Inflation Reduction Act and more commonly known as the green bank. The freeze threatens its ability to issue loans and even pay employees, the group said.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/epa-green-bank-zeldin-climate-trump-27171e24c32720bc96e167f93e40b02d
Update March 21, 2025: Judge blocks Trump administration from terminating $14 billion in ‘green bank’ grants
Farmers, Nonprofits Sue Trump Administration for Freezing IRA Grant Funds
Earthjustice sued the Trump administration for unlawfully withholding grant funds appropriated by Congress through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The lawsuit, filed on behalf of nonprofits and small farmers, seeks a court order requiring the administration to fulfill its financial commitments, release the funds, and prevent further irreparable harm.
Parents Sue Trump Administration for Allegedly Sabotaging Education Department’s Civil Rights Division
Saying the Trump administration is sabotaging civil rights enforcement by the Department of Education, a federal lawsuit filed Friday morning seeks to stop the president and Secretary Linda McMahon from carrying out the mass firing of civil rights investigators and lawyers. Two parents and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a national disability rights group, jointly filed the lawsuit. It alleges that decimating the department’s Office for Civil Rights will leave the agency unable to handle the public’s complaints of discrimination at school. That, they said, would violate the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/department-of-education-civil-rights-lawsuit-trump-parents
Law firm targeted by Trump executive order sues his administration
U.S. law firm Perkins Coie sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday, claiming Trump illegally retaliated against the firm over its work for his former opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and its policies promoting diversity and inclusion. The lawsuit, opens new tab, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., asked a U.S. judge to declare Trump’s March 6 executive order unlawful and to bar its enforcement.
Harvard researchers sue the Trump administration for removing their work from public website
Two Harvard medical school professors claim in a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration that their research was pulled from a public government website because it referred to the LGBTQ community.
Unions ask court to stop DOGE from accessing Social Security data of millions of Americans
A group of labor unions are asking a federal court for an emergency order to stop Elon Musk ‘s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans. The motion for emergency relief was filed late Friday in federal court in Maryland by the legal services group Democracy Forward against the Social Security Administration and its acting commissioner, Leland Dudek. The unions want the court to block DOGE’s access to the vast troves of personal data held by the agency.
Update March 21, 2025: Judge blocks Elon Musk’s Doge from accessing social security records
US Catholic bishops sue Trump administration for halt in funding for refugee settlement
Catholic bishops sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its abrupt halt to funding of refugee resettlement, calling the action unlawful and harmful to newly arrived refugees and to the nation’s largest private resettlement program. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says the administration, by withholding millions even for reimbursements of costs incurred before the sudden cut-off of funding, violates various laws as well as the constitutional provision giving the power of the purse to Congress, which already approved the funding.
Update March 13, 2025: US bishops to appeal loss in fight with Trump over refugee funding
Shapiro, Beshear join fight over Trump’s federal funding freeze
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) sued the Trump administration Thursday, saying the federal government is still suspending grants to his state despite court orders in two existing cases. The lawsuit indicates that, as of Thursday, Pennsylvania agencies still have more than $1.2 billion in grant funding suspended and another $900 million in grants that are marked as requiring further review. … Shapiro is one of two governors who joined the funding freeze fight Thursday. Earlier in the day, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) joined the existing lawsuit from the attorneys general.
Source: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5143171-shapiro-beshear-trump-funding-freeze/
Update March 6, 2025: A second federal judge has ruled to block the Trump administration’s spending freeze
14 states file a lawsuit arguing Elon Musk’s authority at DOGE is unconstitutional
A group of 14 states sued Elon Musk and President Donald Trump on Thursday, arguing that the authority the White House granted the tech billionaire and his advisory Department of Government Efficiency is unconstitutional. The suit, filed by Democratic attorneys general from states like Arizona, Michigan and Rhode Island, takes aim at the magnitude and scale of Musk’s power, noting that DOGE has led the Trump administration’s efforts to dramatically reduce the size of the federal workforce, dismantle entire agencies and access sensitive data.
Update March 13, 2025: Judge Chutkan Strikes Blow Against Elon Musk’s DOGE
Union sues over Trump buyout offer
The largest federal government employee union is suing the Trump administration to block its buyouts for workers, calling the offer “an arbitrary, unlawful, short-fused ultimatum which workers may not be able to enforce.” The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) suit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said the agency violated the Administrative Procedures Act in swiftly rolling out an offer that they do not currently have the funds to back and have offered conflicting guidance about how it’s structured.
Source: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5126770-federal-workers-union-sues-trump-buyouts/
Update March 3, 2025: Judge Sides with AFGE Saying Trump’s Mass Firings of Probationary Employees Illegal
Higher education groups sue Trump over anti-diversity orders
The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and the American Association of University Professors, along with the city of Baltimore and a restaurant group, are asking the courts to block the implementation of the executive orders due to President Trump allegedly exceeding his authority under the Constitution.
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5125472-higher-education-trump-anti-diversity-dei/
Update March 14, 2025: Block on Trump’s executive orders restricting DEI programs is lifted
Doctors sue Trump admin over removed health data
A national physicians group sued the Trump administration Tuesday for removing thousands of pages of health data and information from federal websites. The physicians group, which claims 27,000 members, is represented by lawyers from Public Citizen, a left-leaning consumer advocacy organization.
Source: https://www.axios.com/2025/02/04/doctors-sue-trump-removed-health-data
Federal employee unions sue Trump over Musk data meddling
Three unions representing current and former federal employees — the American Federation of Government Employees, the Service Employees International Union and the Alliance for Retired Americans — are suing the Trump administration for allowing Elon Musk and his underlings to access the vital government systems used to issue federal payments. The lawsuit alleges Musk and his allies engaged in a data breach and that “the scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented.” In an attempt to quell concerns, President Donald Trump’s White House said Musk has been designated a “special government employee.”
Families, advocates sue Trump administration to block order banning care for transgender youth
Families of transgender children on Tuesday asked a federal court to block President Donald Trump‘s order to end all federal funding or support for healthcare that aids gender transitions for people younger than 19. In a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration in Maryland federal court, the families, who are represented by Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union, allege that the order discriminates against transgender people and goes beyond Trump’s authority as president.
Federal workers sue Trump administration over email blasts
The Trump administration has begun using the Office of Personnel Management to send government-wide emails. Two anonymous federal employees have filed a lawsuit citing significant security risks and argue it leaves the government vulnerable to foreign hackers. Billy Mitchell, executive editor at Scoop News Group, joins “America Decides” to discuss.
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/federal-workers-sue-trump-administration-over-email-blasts/
Democratic attorneys general sue over Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship
The day after President Trump signed an executive order that aims to end birthright citizenship, a group of 18 Democratic state attorneys general joined the legal fight to block the move, describing it as unconstitutional. … On Monday, in a separate legal action, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking Trump’s order.
Update March 11, 2025: Court hands Trump third appellate loss in birthright citizenship battle
ACLU sues Trump administration over asylum ban
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Monday challenging President Donald Trump’s executive action suspending asylum in the U.S. … The lawsuit, presented in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges Trump’s effort to unilaterally ban access to asylum is “unlawful as it is unprecedented” because it overrides Congress’ authority. The suit is joined by three immigrant rights groups.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2025/02/03/nx-s1-5285543/aclu-trump-lawsuit-asylum-ban-southern-border-january
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