NEW YORK--In a March speech at a Washington, D.C. law school, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions slammed "activist" federal judges for blocking some of President Donald Trump’s key initiatives, voicing again a favourite grievance of the administration and Trump himself.
Pointing to courtroom losses on policies such as the travel ban, the Trump administration and its supporters have repeatedly complained of a politicized judiciary they say is determined to thwart the Republican president’s agenda.
Reuters analyzed 41 major rulings in significant cases brought against Trump or his policies and found a more nuanced picture. The administration has certainly suffered courtroom losses, but it has also had important wins.
Moreover, while judges appointed by Democratic presidents have issued many more of the rulings that went against the government, Democratic appointees have also been responsible for a majority of Trump victories. And Republican appointees have handed the administration some of its biggest courtroom losses.
Looking strictly at the numbers, the administration has lost far more often than it has won in court, with 28 rulings that went against its position and 13 in its favour. But those numbers include multiple rulings on the same issues, since some of Trump’s actions have attracted separate lawsuits in several courts.
Looking issue by issue at how rulings have gone, the courtroom score evens out. Both the administration and its challengers have won favorable rulings on 11 specific issues. In some instances, where each side won on the same issue in different venues, Reuters tallied wins for both.
Victories for the administration have included rulings on healthcare subsidies, deregulation, and Trump’s continued ownership of his business empire. The administration has lost rulings in its bid to prevent teenagers in U.S. immigration detention from obtaining abortions and a plan to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which protected some young immigrants from deportation.
The administration’s courtroom victories include six in which judges tossed the case outright. Other favorable rulings refused to block Trump policies or orders as cases proceeded.
In some instances, when the administration has scored a victory in one court, the policy at issue has nevertheless been blocked nationwide by a judge ruling in a different case on the same policy. This has occurred in legal wrangling over DACA, funding for so-called “sanctuary” cities, and exemptions to birth control insurance. Trump’s travel ban was also blocked by lower courts until the U.S. Supreme Court allowed it to go into effect last December.
Department of Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec declined to comment on overall outcomes in the Reuters analysis. But she said that the public should be concerned about the increasing use of nationwide injunctions by judges. “The result of these limitless injunctions is that elected officials, no matter their party, are unable to implement public policy except through years of litigation, effectively silencing the people who voted for them,” she said.
The administration has also complained about the quantity of litigation filed against it. In his first months in office, Trump has faced far more lawsuits challenging his policies than Democratic President Barack Obama did during the same period.
Later, the Obama administration saw many key policies challenged in court, including the Affordable Care Act, the Clean Power Plan and a proposal to protect parents of DACA recipients from deportation.
Numerous legal scholars have expressed concern that Trump's attacks on the judiciary will undermine public confidence in the courts. "Those kinds of comments feed into the notion that the system is rigged and people can't get a fair shake in our federal courts," said Alberto Gonzales, who served as attorney general under former President George W. Bush, a Republican. "If that's called into question, it calls into question the integrity of our whole judicial system, and that's very dangerous."
