Dem
47
GOP
53
Democrats have no power at the federal level now (although they do at the state level). With blinding speed, Donald Trump has purged the DoJ of anyone who might challenge him, fired many of the inspectors general, and let Elon Musk and his small band of hackers take over the government's computers. The XOs and other orders are coming so fast, Democrats are getting dizzy. Their one hope is the federal courts. There the lawsuits are ramping up. The Democrats' hope is that judges, even Republican appointees, will put the law first.
Fortunately, some of the things Donald Trump has done are so blatantly illegal that Democrats could win some of the legal battles. For example, yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against Trump's XO that tries to overrule the Fourteenth Amendment. She wrote: "It has been said the right to U.S. citizenship is a right no less precious than life or liberty. If the court does not enjoin enforcement of the executive order, children subject to the order will be denied the rights and benefits of U.S. citizenship and their parents will face instability." She also noted that the XO "conflicts with the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment."
A federal judge in Washington State, John Coughenour, came to the same conclusion earlier. He wrote: "I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar can state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It boggles my mind. Where were the lawyers when this decision was being made?" In the end, this case is going to end up in John Roberts' lap. Everything does. But this case is actually easy, at least from a legal perspective.
Another case where a judge has already ruled involves the XO stating that there are two sexes, determined at conception. One consequence of that is people who were born as men but now identify as women are now redefined as men. Under the Biden administration, people in this group who were convicted of federal crimes were housed in women's prisons. Trump's XO directs the Bureau of Prisons to move them to men's prisons. Three of them sued, although the Constitution doesn't really say a lot about where transgender prisoners are to serve their time. Nevertheless, on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the XO was likely unconstitutional. This was the second time a federal judge shot down the XO. It is estimated that about 2,230 transgender inmates are in federal custody. About 1,500 are trans women, most of whom are in men's prisons.
This is only the start. Virtually every XO will generate one or more lawsuits, and as usual, all of them are going to end up at the Supreme Court. Roberts may end up wondering why he even took the job. (V)