Friday, January 24

ON THE DOCKET THIS WEEK

• A slew of Trump executive orders were met with multiple lawsuits
• DeSantis appoints Florida attorney general to vacant Senate seat, calls for special elections
• State Supreme Court rejects Jefferson Griffin's attempt to dismiss 60,000 ballots

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

A slew of Trump executive orders were met with multiple lawsuits

Trump kicked off his presidency with the exact kind of brutal ruthlessness we expected: dozens of executive orders (EO) to roll back Biden administration policies, civil rights protections and directives to remake the federal workforce in his image. These EOs were met with a slew of lawsuits challenging their constitutionality, setting up for some major legal battles.

Among the most significant EOs is one that ends birthright citizenship for future children born in this country to some noncitizen parents. The order, which takes effect Feb. 19, strips hundreds of thousands of children of the right to automatic U.S. citizenship, specifically targeting those whose parents aren’t citizens or are temporary but lawful residents at the time of their birth.

Naturally, Democrats and pro-voting groups filed lawsuits to block the order. On Tuesday, Democratic officials in 22 states, along with Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, filed two lawsuits asking federal courts to declare the order unconstitutional and prevent the administration from enforcing it. Another one was brought in Maryland by two immigrant rights organizations. In total, there have been six lawsuits over Trump’s birthright citizenship EO. On Thursday, a Republican-appointed federal judge granted a request from Democratic attorneys general in Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington to temporarily halt the EO.

Trump also signed an order known as “Schedule F,” which reclassifies the employment status of tens of thousands of civil service employees, essentially putting them in a less-protected employment class that makes it easier to dismiss them for political disloyalty. Shortly after Trump signed the EO, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) — a government union that represents workers from 37 federal agencies — filed a lawsuit to reverse the order, claiming that it is “contrary to congressional intent.”

And finally, there’s the Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE. The Elon Musk-led faux agency tasked with slashing federal programs, regulations and workforce — was sued three times.Two of the lawsuits were filed by the progressive consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen and the pro-democracy organization Democracy Forward. A third lawsuit was filed by public-interest firm National Security Counselors. Read more about the legal challenges to Trump’s executive orders here.

FLORIDA

DeSantis appoints Florida attorney general to vacant Senate seat, calls for special elections

There’s a lot happening in The Sunshine State in the coming months, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) appointed a replacement for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by recently confirmed Sec. of State Marco Rubio (R) and set the date for a special election for two vacant seats in the legislature.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), DeSantis’ appointee to fill Rubio’s senate seat, has a history of election denialism and voter disenfranchisement. Moody was elected as Florida’s attorney general in 2018, and about two years later, signed on to a brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a Texas case seeking to overturn the 2020 election. The petition, which alleged there was widespread fraud in mail-in voting, was rejected by the nation’s highest court. This was the first of numerous times she threatened voting rights and democracy for Floridians and voters across the country.

Moody will serve in the Republican-controlled Senate until the 2026 midterm election when the seat will be back on the ballot.

Meanwhile, DeSantis finally scheduled the dates for a special election to fill the seats held by state Rep. Joel Rudman (R) and state Sen. Randy Fine (R), who both announced their resignations in November to run for Congress. The election dates come after the ACLU — on behalf of two Florida voters — filed a lawsuit against DeSantis, arguing that he violated his mandatory duty under the Florida Constitution and state law to call special elections when legislative vacancies arise. Both special elections are scheduled for June 10, with the primaries taking place April 1. Read more about Ashley Moody here and read more about the Florida special elections here.

NORTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT ELECTION

State Supreme Court rejects Jefferson Griffin's attempt to dismiss 60,000 ballots

In an unexpected move Wednesday night, the North Carolina Supreme Court dismissed GOP candidate Jefferson Griffin’s petition challenging over 60,000 ballots cast in his November 2024 race for a seat on the bench, which he lost to incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs by over 700 votes.

It’s a win for voters but the ruling does not mark the end of Griffin’s ongoing legal dispute over his recent election loss.

Wednesday’s order specified that the Wake County Superior Court must hear Griffin’s protests concerning three separate categories of ballots — all of which were previously rejected by the state board of elections — before the state’s highest court ultimately weighs in. The three buckets of ballots challenged by Griffin include those cast by overseas voters who did not submit a copy of their photo IDs, voters who never previously resided in North Carolina and individuals whose voter registrations were allegedly incomplete.

The state Supreme Court also noted that its previous Jan. 7 order halting certification of the contested election will remain in place until the matter is fully resolved, leaving the final outcome of the race hanging in the balance. Democratic Justice Anita Earls dissented from her colleagues’ decision to leave the stay of certification in place, noting that it “prevents the Wake County Superior Court from deciding for itself whether Griffin is likely to succeed on the merits and whether a stay is justified.”

Riggs responded to the court’s latest action in a statement saying that “​​while I agree with the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to dismiss Judge Griffin’s inappropriate request for a writ of prohibition, I am disappointed that the door has been opened to dragging this out for so long.” Read more about the North Carolina Supreme Court’s order here.

OPINION

The Resistance We Need From Senate Democrats Under

Trump 2.0

During his first term, President Donald Trump appointed 234 lifetime judges to the federal bench — many of whom received broad support from Senate Democrats in their confirmations and have already done untold harm to our civil rights and rule of law that will last for generations, at the very least.

“We can’t have a repeat during Trump’s second administration; we need to block every judge possible because we already know how unqualified they will be and how harmful they will be to our rights,” writes Keith Thirion, interim co-president and vice president of strategy at Alliance for Justice. Read more here.

NEW EPISODE

The Lawyers Fighting Trump's Executive Orders

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, joins Marc to discuss the legal efforts to fight against Trump's illegal and unconstitutional executive orders. You can watch on YouTube here.

What We’re Doing