Source: Senator Chris Van Hollen’s newletter
Over 60 lawsuits have been filed against the flood of illegal actions by Trump and Musk. Here’s an update on some of the key rulings:
- On his first day in office, Trump ordered a pause on all foreign aid, and then his administration began to illegally dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which plays a central role in preventing disease and hunger, supporting democracy, and promoting U.S. national security interests worldwide. Nonprofit advocates that receive USAID grants sued the Trump administration, and the D.C. District Court granted a temporary restraining order that requires the government to reimburse entities that had already spent funds based on USAID contracts. The judge had to twice order the government to comply with his temporary restraining order, and, on Wednesday, the Supreme Court weighed in. In a 5-4 decision, the Court rejected the Trump administration’s petition and ordered them to make the payments that are due and owing, and the District Court judge later mandated that payments resume immediately to the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit. This is a step in the right direction, but it does not address all payments that are owed nor does it prevent the Administration from blocking future funds that USAID planned to deliver in support of critical U.S. interests abroad. The fight to save USAID — and the critical role it plays in advancing U.S. values and interests — continues.
- Also on Wednesday, a federal judge in Boston ordered Trump and Musk to stop blocking lifesaving NIH research funding at our universities and other institutions — issuing a preliminary injunction on top of a temporary restraining order from February. The judge ruled that the Trump Administration did not have the authority to summarily and unilaterally change the terms of reimbursement for critical research — changes that would cripple the ability of many institutions to perform their lifesaving work.
- Over the past month, Trump and Musk have illegally fired thousands of “probationary” employees — those newly hired, promoted, or reassigned. Indeed, they terminated people so recklessly that they made dangerous mistakes, including firing people working to stop the spread of avian flu and people who monitor our nuclear facilities. Thankfully, the courts and independent government administrative boards have found these firings, based on lies, to be unjustified and illegal. In California last week, a judge issued a temporary restraining order against the firing of employees at six agencies and called the Trump Administration’s actions “unlawful,” and “invalid,” and stated that they “must be stopped and rescinded.”
- Additionally, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the internal government body charged with protecting the merit-based civil service, halted the terminations of six probationary employees after they successfully petitioned the Office of the Special Counsel to investigate their wrongful termination. In finding that the employees must be reinstated for at least 45 days while further investigation takes place, a member of the MSPB stated, “there are reasonable grounds to believe that each of the six agencies engaged in a prohibited personnel practice.” On Wednesday, this stay was expanded to protect over 5,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture probationary employees who were wrongfully terminated, temporarily reinstating them pending further investigation of their dismissals. The next step should be to expand this ruling to other agencies beyond the Department of Agriculture.