The Trump administration scored a HUGE win on Saturday in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Not only did the court grant the administration’s request for a stay pending appeal in several consolidated/related cases, but it set forth the framework that district courts should be adhering to in analyzing many of the cases currently pending before them regarding the administration’s actions.
Since President Donald Trump resumed office in January and began issuing a series of executive orders and actions aimed at dismantling and/or sizably reducing the size of the bureaucratic state, lawsuit after lawsuit has been filed against the administration in an effort to thwart his agenda.
Just attempting to keep up with the litigation has been a daunting task — and I’m not the one filing pleadings and briefs or arguing motions on them; I’m just trying to write on some of the more significant rulings and developments (as are my colleagues).
It’s also a bit dispiriting to see multiple rulings issued that seem more focused on allowing the judiciary to cluck its tongue at the Bad Orange Man than on actually adhering to the law. Trying to report on those while offering some encouragement to readers that, when all is said and done, the Trump administration is likely to prevail on a lot of these issues — not all of them, of course, they don’t get everything right all of the time (no one does), but more of them than not, in my view — has become a delicate balancing act. Still, I understand the frustration expressed frequently in the comments and on social media, even while it troubles me, because I recognize the critical role the judiciary plays in our tripartite system, and I don’t want the American people to lose faith in it. But, boy howdy, some of these judges have made that a challenge of late.