The Trump administration faces more than 850 lawsuits challenging its executive actions, according to a New York Times tracking project as of September 3, 2026. The litigation spans immigration, voting rights, civil liberties, and environmental policy, with courts blocking or temporarily blocking numerous government actions across the federal system.
Just Security’s comprehensive litigation tracker, updated September 4, 2026, shows 952 cases currently tracked against Trump administration actions. Of those cases, 290 have resulted in plaintiff wins while 161 have favored the government, with 412 cases still pending in federal courts.
Birthright citizenship has emerged as a major flashpoint. On June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to all children born on U.S. soil. Yet in August 2026, Trump signed two new executive orders seeking to narrow the scope of birthright citizenship protections, prompting federal judges to issue preliminary injunctions blocking their enforcement just days later.
Voting rights and election-related challenges represent another significant category of litigation. The Trump administration has pursued federal control over state voter databases and attempted to create a national voter database through its SAVE system, sparking lawsuits from state attorneys general, voting rights groups, and civil liberties organizations. As of September 2, 2026, 82 multistate lawsuits had been filed against the second Trump administration, with many focused on election integrity and voter privacy concerns.
Federal judges have issued temporary blocks on a range of government actions. The National Association of the Deaf won a preliminary injunction in November 2025 requiring the administration to provide American Sign Language interpretation at White House press briefings after the administration ended the practice in January 2025. Courts have also blocked or temporarily blocked enforcement of immigration detention policies, environmental rollbacks, and agency funding freezes.
The volume of litigation reflects the breadth of Trump’s executive actions. According to the Federal Register, Trump signed 52 executive orders in 2026 alone, continuing a pattern from his first weeks in office when he issued more executive orders on his first day than any previous president. In the administration’s first two months, 127 lawsuits were filed against it.
The litigation tracker methodology tracks only challenges to Trump administration executive actions filed by plaintiffs, not cases where the administration itself is the plaintiff. The tracker excludes certain categories—such as individual tariff cases filed in the Court of International Trade—but includes consolidated cases like the immigration detention policy litigation, which involved more than 700 cases before judges across the country.
Legal challenges to Trump’s executive orders have proceeded through multiple court levels. The administration has filed emergency applications to the Supreme Court, with as of September 1, 2026, there having been 40 such applications, with one pending and three granted. The Supreme Court has sided with the administration in some emergency rulings while denying stays in others, leaving lower court injunctions in place.
Sources
- New York Times — reported more than 850 lawsuits filed against Trump administration executive actions as of September 3, 2026
- Just Security — comprehensive litigation tracker showing 952 cases tracked, with 290 plaintiff wins and 161 government wins as of September 4, 2026
- Ballotpedia — documented 82 multistate lawsuits filed against the Trump administration as of September 2, 2026
- Reuters — reported federal judge blocking Trump’s new birthright citizenship order in early September 2026
- Supreme Court Blog (SCOTUS Blog) — reported Supreme Court’s June 30, 2026 decision striking down Trump’s original birthright citizenship executive order
- Federal Register — documented Trump signed 52 executive orders in 2026
- Wikipedia (Legal affairs of the second Trump presidency) — reported 127 lawsuits filed in administration’s first two months and that Trump issued more executive orders on first day than any previous president
