Trump 100 days: Courts, judges and the rule of law
In this photo released by Senator Van Hollen’s press office, Hollen, right, speaks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland and deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, in a hotel restaurant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Press Office Senator Van Hollen, via AP)
Trump has consistently said he would follow an order from federal judges. But that has not stopped talk of a possible constitutional crisis over defying the courts.
His executive orders reshaping the federal government are facing more than 150 lawsuits on issues from fired federal workers and immigration to transgender rights.
Judges have ruled against the administration dozens of times, blocking parts of his agenda for now. The administration has argued that individual judges should not be able to issue nationwide injunctions.
Trump issued an extraordinary call for the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled against him the case of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members. That prompted a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who did not mention the president by name but said impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreements over court decisions.
The administration has also pushed back in court, quickly appealing multiple orders to the conservative-majority Supreme Court.
Trump so far has a mixed record at the Supreme Court in a flurry of emergency appeals. The justices have handed down some largely procedural rulings siding with the administration. They also have rejected Trump’s broad arguments in several cases, including the one involving the Venezuelans and another in the Abrego Garcia case.
