What has moved in the federal courts lately, and where I covered it. Every item links straight to the case, its docket, and the plain-English breakdown. For live Supreme Court rulings, see Opinions; for the full list, the case tracker.
About 215 Democratic members of Congress sued President Trump under the Foreign Emoluments Clause, arguing he accepted benefits from foreign governments through his businesses without asking Congress for consent. The dis…
The Trump administration began dismantling federal civil service protections in early 2025, pushing agencies to terminate probationary employees without cause and reclassifying tens of thousands of workers under executiv…
A First Amendment challenge to Colorado's Minor Conversion Therapy Law by Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor who practices talk therapy. The Tenth Circuit treated the law as a regulation of professional conduct that burd…
A class of Venezuelan men challenging their removal under the Alien Enemies Act, before Chief Judge James E. Boasberg in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:25-cv-00766). In March 2025 the adminis…
The American Bar Association sued the Executive Office of the President and dozens of federal agency heads in June 2025, challenging what its complaint calls the administration's "Law Firm Intimidation Policy." The compl…
Carter v. United States (24-860) is a Supreme Court case addressing whether a criminal defendant who enters a conditional guilty plea preserving a suppression issue may raise on appeal a Fourth Amendment argument based o…
Twenty-one states sued to stop the Trump administration's elimination of roughly half the Department of Education's workforce through a mass reduction in force, a move that effectively transferred core statutory function…
A coalition of nonprofit organizations and local governments sued the Trump administration in March 2025 after the Environmental Protection Agency froze and then terminated grants that Congress had funded through the Inf…
The Trump administration began dismantling federal civil service protections in early 2025, pushing agencies to terminate probationary employees without cause and reclassifying tens of thousands of workers under executiv…
A coalition of states sued the Trump administration over the requirement that states agree to assist with federal immigration enforcement before they can access Victims of Crime Act funds, which help states provides reso…
D.C. residents who have interacted with federal immigration enforcement agents sued the Department of Homeland Security over the civil immigration arrests in Washington, D.C. that were conducted without a warrant or find…
Yemeni nationals and TPS holders sued the Department of Homeland Security, challenging Secretary Noem's cancellation of temporary protected status for Yemen.
The state of Minnesota sued the Department of Justice seeking access to evidence gathered following the 3 shootings by federal agents that occurred during Operation Metro Surge.
The League of Women Voters sued the Trump administration over the new executive order titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," which purports to exert federal control over election a…
The Supreme Court held that the Alien Tort Statute does not permit federal courts to impose liability on foreign corporations for human rights violations committed abroad, resolving a decades-long question about the reac…
United States v. Maxwell was the federal criminal prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell in the Southern District of New York on charges of sex trafficking of minors and related offenses connected to her association with Jeffr…
Doe v. Dynamic Physical Therapy is a case in which a John Doe petitioner brings claims against a physical therapy provider and associated defendants. The 25-180 docket number suggests a circuit court appeal or SCOTUS cer…
Curtis Flowers was tried six times for the same quadruple murder in Winona, Mississippi, with the same prosecutor using peremptory strikes to remove virtually every Black prospective juror across the trials. The Supreme …
Journalist and attorney Katie Phang sued Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the DOJ's failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act (Public Law 119-38), which Congress passed nearly unanimously and Pres…
President Trump sued the BBC in his personal capacity over the Panorama documentary "Trump: A Second Chance," first broadcast October 28, 2024, one week before the 2024 election. The complaint alleges the BBC spliced tog…
8 recently terminated inspectors general of various executive agencies sued President Trump and the agency leaders over their purported firings. The plaintiffs allege these terminations violated the IG Act and that Presi…
5 individuals stopped or arrested during immigration raids, represented by the ACLU, sued the Department of Homeland Security over the alleged use of race or ethnicity by U.S. Border Patrol agents to conduct immigration …
A coalition of labor unions, religious organizations, and non-profit organizations sued the Trump administration over the changes to the H-1B visa program which would require the employers of workers on a H-1B visa to pa…
The Coalition for Independent Technology Research sued the Trump administration over the new policy which targets noncitizens who conduct misinformation and disinformation research or promote certain content moderation p…
Former CIA Director John Brennan sued Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other Trump administration officials, alleging that the criminal investigation opened against him is retaliation for his public criticism of …
Donald Trump's defamation suit against The New York Times, filed in the Middle District of Florida before Judge Steven D. Merryday. The suit, which seeks roughly $15 billion, challenges the paper's reporting on his finan…
The Trump administration built an ICE detention facility in Florida's Everglades, on 96% wetlands adjacent to Big Cypress National Preserve and habitat for the endangered Florida panther, without conducting any environme…
A coalition of organizations represented by Democracy Forward filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, seeking to block the White House Office of Management and Budget from pausing all agency grants.
A challenge to the Trump administration's freeze and dismantling of U.S. foreign assistance, before Judge Amir H. Ali in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:25-cv-00402). The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy…
The government appealed Judge Crawford's order requiring the release of Mohsen Mahdawi. On July 21, 2026, a unanimous Second Circuit panel (Livingston, Nardini, Menashi) vacated the district court's release order and rem…
Maurene Comey, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, sued Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice over her termination which she alleges was without cause and without any opportunity to…
The Trump administration appealed Judge Cobb's preliminary injunction order which enjoined the DOD from deploying the National Guard in D.C. pursuant to specific orders.
Rep. Joyce Beatty and other plaintiffs sued the Trump administration and the John F. Kennedy Center Board of Trustees over the Board's move to rename the Center, or parts of it, for President Trump. The court earlier hel…
The League of United Latin American Citizens and Democratic Party committees (DNC, DCCC, Democratic Governors Association) challenged President Trump's executive order regulating the conduct of federal elections. This is…
Congress established Voice of America in 1942 with statutory editorial independence from U.S. government control. When the Trump administration appointed Kari Lake to lead USAGM (VOA's parent agency), she attempted to di…
6 current transgender service members and 2 prospective members sued President Trump, seeking injunctive relief against the implementation of this order. The suit alleges the order violates the Equal Protection section o…
The City of Salem, Oregon sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA after the agencies attached new conditions to federal disaster-relief grants the city relies on, including Public Assistance funds already …
CNN, MS NOW, POLITICO, and three of their White House correspondents sued President Trump and three administration officials after the President announced on September 18, 2026 that he was banning the three outlets from …
On August 18, 2026, The Walt Disney Company, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (ABC), and ABC's eight owned-and-operated television stations sued the Federal Communications Commission and its commissioners in the U.S…
The National Endowment for Democracy sued the Trump administration over the impoundment of funds Congress had appropriated for NED, which has jeopardized its ability to fulfill its mission laid out in the National Endowm…
