The new resistance to Donald Trump’s presidency had a plan: State attorneys general from Maine to Hawaii would rush to court to stop vast portions of the agenda Trump had spent years promising to deliver.
And it’s working: Democratic attorneys general and the Democracy Forward coalition of liberal lawyers have been winning in court and throwing up hurdles to his agenda. Skeptical judges have kept federal workers in their jobs, unfrozen billions of dollars in grants, and preserved birthright citizenship; Democracy’s own network of partner organizations has grown from around 180 after the election to more than 400 now.
“The Trump administration spent years preparing for the blitz of executive orders we’re seeing now — but the legal strategy is working,” said Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman. “The early wins we’ve seen so far are just the beginning of our coordinated legal strategy.” Congressional Democrats agreed with her.
“We’ve had a great deal of success with preliminary injunctions, temporary restraining orders in the courts,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told Semafor on Wednesday. “I think there are close to 50 suits filed, and on almost every major issue, the courts have put a freeze on stopping the DOGE people from implementing what they want to implement.”
“Democratic attorneys general are currently batting a thousand at getting injunctions, which is great,” said Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin, who cautioned that the final outcome “remains to be seen.”
On the other hand: There are no mass protests on the Mall, few stirring speeches, and many, many angry social media posts. Around the country and on Capitol Hill, Democrats sure don’t feel like they’re winning.
Rallying against Trump’s executive orders, Congressional Democrats have been heckled by protesters who ask what they’re actually doing. New polling from YouGov this week found that two-thirds of Democratic voters want them to “oppose Trump as much as possible.”
“We’re going to fight on your behalf in the Congress, we’re fighting on your behalf in the courts and we’re going to make sure we do what we need to do in the community,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a Tuesday rally organized by the American Federation of Government Employees. It’s the first part — a congressional battle that isn’t slowing Trump down — that’s been frustrating progressives.
“That’s the sales pitch?” scoffed “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart on Monday, after playing New York Rep. Dan Goldman’s take that House Democrats couldn’t stop Trump without Republican defections. “You can see the Democrats’ backbone on our new show, ‘America Backslides,’ starring Dan Goldman as Hopeful Loser!”
