Tag: Trump executive order

The debate over birthright citizenship has reemerged as one of the most consequential constitutional and policy questions in contemporary American politics. On May 15, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court convened a special oral argument session to consider whether the administration of President Donald J. Trump may implement an executive order redefining the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause—specifically by excluding from automatic U.S. citizenship children born on American soil to parents “unlawfully present” or “lawful but temporary” in the country. Traditionally, birthright citizenship, enshrined in the plain language of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment (“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…”), has been interpreted broadly since the seminal Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898).

In a landmark ruling on May 2, 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell permanently blocked an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that targeted the prominent law firm Perkins Coie. Trump’s Executive Order, signed on March 6, 2025, sought to penalize the firm for its past legal representations, including its work for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and involvement in commissioning the Steele dossier. The order aimed to suspend the firm's security clearances, restrict access to federal buildings, and terminate government contracts with the firm and its clients.

In March 2025, former President Donald J. Trump, then the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 election, issued an executive order that dismantled the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). This action abruptly defunded Voice of America (VOA), suspended over 1,300 employees, and placed the international broadcasting institution under direct political oversight. This executive move marked an aggressive deviation from decades of bipartisan consensus regarding the necessity of editorial independence in state-funded journalism. The resulting legal challenge, brought forth by VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara, multiple journalists, and unions, is now positioned as a pivotal case for defining the contours of press freedom in America.

On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy," effectively eliminating the federal government's use of disparate-impact liability in enforcing civil rights laws. This legal doctrine, established by the Supreme Court in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971), allows courts to challenge policies that disproportionately harm protected groups, such as racial minorities, women, and the disabled, even without evidence of intentional discrimination. The executive order directs federal agencies to deprioritize enforcement of such regulations and calls for repealing parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, citing alleged conflicts with merit-based practices and constitutional protections.

On April 24, 2025, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction halting former President Donald J. Trump's recent executive order on election reforms, a directive that stirred an immediate national controversy. The executive order sought to impose sweeping new regulations on state-run voting systems, including mandatory voter ID verification, stringent mail-in ballot audits, and a prohibition on using electronic voting machines not certified under a federal protocol.