President Trump\u2019s flood-the-zone strategy in the first month of his new presidency is catching the typically sluggish judiciary flat-footed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 50 lawsuits challenging major administration actions have been filed at breakneck speed, leading to whirlwind showdowns in courtrooms across the country that have created challenges for both sides in the legal debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Department lawyers have walked back statements hastily made in court. Challengers have scrambled to gather all the plaintiffs. And judges have tried to toe the line between acting fast and acting right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to keep up. I don\u2019t know whether you have been able to keep up,\u201d U.S. District Judge John Bates\u2002<\/u><\/a>said at a Monday hearing about online health data scrubbed by the Trump administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has signed dozens of executive actions in the weeks since returning to the White House, issuing directives upending policy across the board from immigration to gender to federal employee protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As legal challenges pour in, plaintiffs have sought swift relief. Judges have frequently set weekend deadlines and scheduled emergency hearings within hours of initial requests to temporarily block the actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know it didn\u2019t make your weekends relaxed. It didn\u2019t make mine relaxed either,\u201d Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush,<\/u><\/a> joked at Monday\u2019s hearing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd I suppose you can ultimately point the finger to whoever you want \u2014 toward those who brought the lawsuit or those who were responsible for the conduct,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The hastily scheduled proceedings at times have left lawyers unprepared, with multiple hearings being pushed into recess so government attorneys could touch base with the relevant agency personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a hearing last week in Washington, D.C., Justice Department lawyers struggled to reach an agreement with FBI agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases and sought to keep their names from being publicly released. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The FBI agents\u2019 lawyers insisted any order must block all government entities \u2014 not just the Justice Department \u2014 from publishing the information but were met with resistance from the department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat is the hesitation?\u201d pressed U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, a former President Biden\u2002<\/u><\/a>appointee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe government is a vast entity,\u201d Justice Department lawyer Jeremy Simon explained, suggesting such an affirmation would require a go-ahead from every agency in the government. \u201cI\u2019ve had this case for less than 24 hours.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The hearing dragged on for roughly six hours, as government lawyers made intermittent attempts to reach \u201cdecisionmakers\u201d within their agency to finally strike a deal. An agreement wasn\u2019t reached until the next day<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A similar dynamic played out when a group of unions sued over Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s (DOGE) plans to gain access to Labor Department systems. After taking the bench for the first hearing, the judge encouraged the parties to see if they could find agreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The judge wasn\u2019t called back for more than an hour. When he returned, government attorneys indicated the negotiations included conversations with Labor Department officials, but they did not end in a deal. The hearing then continued, and the judge ultimately sided with the government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even after hearings, the Justice Department has caught mistakes made in haste. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Government lawyers corrected representations made to judges discovered after having \u201cthe benefit of more time to investigate the facts over the weekend\u201d in at least two lawsuits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a case involving the DOGE team\u2019s access to critical Treasury Department payment systems, Justice Department lawyer Bradley Humphreys told a judge that the government had provided the wrong designation<\/u><\/a> for a DOGE-adjacent employee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Christopher Edelman, who represents the government in a challenge to its plan to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, said the Justice Department wrongly told<\/u><\/a> the judge that just 500 employees had been placed on administrative leave, when it was actually more than 2,000 employees. He also said the government\u2019s representation that only future contract obligations were paused was incorrect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not only the administration struggling to keep pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When Democratic state attorneys general organized last week to sue over DOGE\u2019s access to the Treasury Department\u2019s<\/u><\/a> payment systems, they couldn\u2019t agree in their announcements on who was part of the coalition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One office claimed 12 states would sue. Another said the number was 14. When the suit was ultimately filed the next day, 19 states had signed on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Judges, too, have run into trouble; they\u2019ve repeatedly been asked to clarify emergency rulings that included vague, sweeping language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a separate case challenging DOGE\u2019s Treasury access, a judge early Saturday imposed far-reaching restrictions before the government could respond, a move met with swift condemnation from Trump and his allies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Both sides agreed the order should be modified so contractors who maintain the systems could resume access. A different judge on Tuesday retooled the earlier ruling<\/u><\/a> accordingly but declined the Trump administration\u2019s request to dissolve the restrictions entirely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As plaintiffs press for swift relief, other judges have declined to rule so quickly \u2014 and chafed at suggestions otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ll do what I can when I can,\u201d Bates said at the DOGE-Labor hearing last week, which he also oversaw. \u201cI\u2019m not ruling on it sitting up here right now. You\u2019ll have to wait and see when I get it out, and what it says. I will try to be as conscientious as I can, given the fact that it\u2019s now a quarter of 6 on Friday afternoon.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is what it is,\u201d the judge said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n