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By Sean O'Driscoll
Senior Crime and Courts Reporter
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President Donald Trump has faced numerous legal challenges that threaten to derail his political agenda in his second term.
Why It Matters
Trump has signed a rapid succession of executive orders on everything from birthright citizenship to the federal budget, foreign aid and transgender medical treatment.
Read More on Politics
The battle playing out in federal courts across the U.S will play a major role in determining the success of his agenda. It will also affect many areas of U.S life.
Newsweek sought email comment from the offices of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Judge John Bates on Friday.
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What To Know
Here are the major stalling points in the federal courts:
Birthright Citizenship
On January 23, Washington state Judge John Coughenour sharply denounced Trump's attempts to remove citizenship from children if both their parents are illegal immigrants.
"I've been on the bench for over four decades. I can't remember another case where the question presented was as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order," he said, while imposing a temporary restraining order nationwide.
477162-washington-appeal-court-birthright.pdf.PDF
Unsurprisingly, he imposed a longer-lasting preliminary injunction when the case came before his court again on February 6.
This time he was even more scathing.
"It has become ever more apparent that to our president the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals. ... In this courtroom, and under my watch, the rule of law is a bright beacon which I intend to follow," he wrote.
Transgender Minors
Trump signed an executive order on January 28 blocking any hospital or clinic that receives federal funding for providing transgender treatment for people up to age 19.
On February 13, Maryland federal Judge Brendan Hurson, placed a temporary restraining order on Trump's order, arguing that the plaintiffs, a group of transgender teens and LGBTQ groups, are likely to succeed in their claim that Trump's order is unconstitutional.
On February 26, Hurson agreed to extend the restraining order to March 5. His order applies throughout the United States.
He added that, before March 5, he may decide to grant a preliminary injunction, which is longer lasting than a temporary restraining order and can be appealed.
Transgender Terminology
On February 11, Washington, D.C., Judge John Bates imposed a temporary restraining order against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which had been ordered to remove any website pages that promoted transgender "ideology" or used the word "gender" instead of sex.
Chicago Dr. Stephanie Liou wrote in a court filing that she was fighting a chlamydia outbreak in her area.
In February, she went to access the online CDC statistics on chlamydia to see how the disease was spreading. That's when she discovered that the information had been removed, because the STD documents included the words "gender" instead of "sex" and some referred to "person" rather than "woman."
Bates, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, wrote that Liou "cannot effectively do her job to address a 'time-sensitive' chlamydia outbreak that is happening now."
Federal Grants And Loans
In Washington on February 25, Judge Loren AliKhan placed a preliminary injunction on Trump's decision to block all federal grants and loans.
Trump did so pending his administration's review of federal spending.
"In the simplest terms, the freeze was ill-conceived from the beginning," AliKhan wrote.
"Defendants either wanted to pause up to $3 trillion in federal spending practically overnight, or they expected each federal agency to review every single one of its grants, loans, and funds for compliance in less than 24 hours. The breadth of that command is almost unfathomable."
What People Are Saying
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, told Newsweek that he believes some of Trump's executive orders will survive judicial scrutiny, "especially when the president possesses clear authority to issue them.
"However, most of the temporary restraining orders, which federal judges have carefully issued, apparently involve executive orders that infringe on Congress' authority, especially the power of the purse, and other authority that is expressly included in the U.S. Constitution."
He said other Trump orders "violate statutes that delegate authority to federal departments or agencies, or infringe rights or interests of individuals."
What Happens Next
As soon as judges convert temporary restraining orders into preliminary injunctions, they can be appealed to higher federal courts.
The Trump administration has already begun the appeals process in several cases and will likely seek U.S. Supreme Court review if needed, given the Court's 6-3 conservative majority.
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