Inside Trump’s first-year power plays – and the court fights testing them
President Donald Trump spent the first year of his second White House term signing a torrent of executive orders aimed at delivering on several major policy priorities – including slashing...
By Fox News · Fox News
President Donald Trump spent the first year of his second White House term signing a torrent of executive orders aimed at delivering on several major policy priorities – including slashing federal agency budgets and staffing, implementing a hard-line immigration crackdown, and invoking emergency authorities to impose steep tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner. The pace of Trump’s executive actions has far outstripped that of his predecessors, allowing the administration to move quickly on campaign promises. But the blitz has also triggered a wave of lawsuits seeking to block or pause many of the orders, setting up a high-stakes confrontation over the limits of presidential power under Article II and when courts can – or should – intervene. Lawsuits have challenged Trump's most sweeping and consequential executive orders, ranging from a ban on birthright citizenship and transgender service members in the military to the legality of sweeping, DOGE-led government cuts and the president’s ability to "federalize" and deploy thousands of National Guard troops. Many of those questions remain unresolved. Only a few legal fights tied to Trump’s second-term agenda have reached final resolution, a point legal experts say is critical as the administration presses forward with its broader agenda. Trump allies have argued the president is merely exercising his powers as commander-in-chief. Critics counter that the flurry of early executive actions warrants an additional level of legal scrutiny, and judges have raced to review a crushing wave of cases and lawsuits filed in response. FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP'S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BAN FOR ALL INFANTS, TESTING LOWER COURT POWERS In June 2025, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration 6-3 in Trump v. CASA, a closely watched case centered on the power of district courts to issue so-called "universal" or nationwide injunctions blocking a president's executive orders. Though the case ostensibly focused on birthr…