Trump already broke the law 23 times?!
Here are 23 instances of the new administration breaking the law -- in many cases more than one law and/or the Constitution.
It was inevitable, really. The first convicted felon to become president of the United States has only been in office for 16 days, but he already appears to have broken the law at least 23 times and counting — and many of these, in turn, implicate multiple federal laws and often the Constitution for good measure.
Here’s the list of Donald Trump’s apparent illegalities thus far:
1. Freezing funding for Medicaid and all other federal assistance programs
The Office of Management and Budget memo was rescinded, but Trump’s press secretary insists that the freeze is still in effect — and it’s likely illegal for multiple reasons. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 forbids the president from unilaterally stopping funding; even limited delays must be explained in detail in a formal notification to Congress.
2. Revoking birthright citizenship
Trump is blatantly attempting to rewrite the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees birthright citizenship. Trumpers are now twisting the “subject to the jurisdiction” language of the amendment, claiming it excludes undocumented immigrants, temporary residents, and even Native Americans — a misreading so egregious that a Reagan-appointed judge called it “blatantly unconstitutional” when ruling against the order on January 23.1
3. Using “expedited removal” to deport immigrants with zero due process
This rule gives Trump “a cheat code to circumvent due process and the Constitution,” the ACLU argues — thus likely breaking multiple laws, including the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. It also may violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which I keep calling the most important federal law you’ve never heard of (except that, if you read this newsletter, you have!). The APA requires that federal agency actions adhere to an array of legal requirements (like advance notice, public comment periods, etc.) and that they have fact-based policy rationales rather than being “arbitrary and capricious.” Federal courts struck down the first Trump administration for APA violations over 36 times.
4. Discontinuing the CBP One app
Under President Biden, the CBP One app effectively became the only way to legally apply for asylum. By shutting it down and cancelling some 30,000 scheduled appointments, Trump likely violated the Refugee Act — and the APA.
5. ICE invading churches, schools, and hospitals
For a decade, ICE was directed to avoid “protected” or “sensitive” areas, like schools, hospitals, and churches. No longer. A lawsuit filed by a Quaker group argues this violates the First Amendment’s freedom of expressive association, as well as the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act — and, you guessed it, the APA.
6. Declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border
Trump is attempting to send troops to the southern border, supposedly to provide logistical support only, avoiding a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which blocks the president from using the military for civilian law enforcement. But even logistical support could be ruled unlawful if it’s found to “adversely affect the military preparedness of the US.”
7. Designating Mexican cartels as “terrorist organizations” without proper legal process
Such designations are usually done in collaboration with Congress. Trump may have overstepped his authority doing so unilaterally.
8. Suspending the US refugee and asylum program
Trump not only undermined America’s obligations to refugees and human rights under international law — he may have violated the federal Refugee Act of 1980.
9. Arresting immigrants and citizens without warrants or any legal process
There have been multiple reports of warrantless raids by ICE, including in Newark and Chicago. Gestapo-style raids and detentions without legal process potentially implicate numerous violations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. And if the detainees are not allowed to challenge their detentions in court, that will be a violation of constitutional habeas corpus rights as well.
10. Closing down USAID
Trump has moved to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) without any legal formalities, potentially another gross violation of the APA and numerous other federal civil service laws.
11. Firing NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox
Firing the first Black woman on the National Labor Relations Board left it without a quorum, unable to do its job protecting workers across the country. It also may have violated the National Labor Relations Act, which protects board members from at-will firing.
12. Firing EEOC commissioners Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows
Samuels and Burrows were serving terms that should have extended until 2026 and 2028, respectively. They are supposed to be protected from presidential interference, something the Supreme Court has confirmed. Their firing, the first in the agency’s history, is therefore likely illegal. It leaves the agency, which protects millions of workers from workplace discrimination, without a quorum.
13. Transferring transgender women to men’s prisons
One of the many harms stemming from Trump’s “two genders” executive order is the imminent transfer of hundreds of transgender women to men’s prisons. One inmate has sued, arguing that her pending transfer is illegal on at least four grounds. Being placed in a men’s prison puts her at serious risk, a potential violation of her Eighth Amendment rights; being singled out on the basis of her sex and gender identity may violate her Fifth Amendment rights. Last week a judge temporarily blocked Trump’s order to transfer the inmate.
14. Banning transgender troops from serving
Trump’s ban goes even further than the one he attempted to pass in 2017. The same civil rights organization that won multiple court battles over the first ban is challenging the new one, arguing it is unconstitutionally discriminatory.
15. Attempting to establish “DOGE” without proper legal steps
Just minutes after Trump became president, the first lawsuits of his second term were launched against the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.” Each of the three suits argues that “DOGE” is a federal advisory committee, and must therefore adhere to transparency laws, such as holding all meetings publicly, established by the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972.
16. Soliciting personal info from federal employees and storing on an insecure server
Millions of civilian federal employees reportedly received a strange email from a new address, apparently sent by the Office of Personnel Management — which Wired reports has been stuffed with Elon Musk’s “lackeys.” A lawsuit alleges that employee info, including emails, were collected, stored on an insecure server, and funneled to an individual who seems to be an employee at Musk’s xAI. If true, that could be a serious breach of federal transparency laws.
17. Trying to trick federal employees into resigning
Another email, titled “Fork in the Road” (the same title used in Elon Musk’s email to Twitter employees before his purge there), tried to trick millions of federal employees into resignations. Sen. Tim Kaine warned that “the president has no authority to make that offer,” nor is there the “budget line item to pay” anyone who took it.
18. Anti-DEI orders
Trump’s anti-DEI orders aren’t just a massive rollback of civil rights efforts. They may be challenged in court, in part for potentially violating the APA.
19. Using “Schedule F” to eliminate civil service
Schedule F was one of Trump’s final major first-term orders, and repealing it was one of Biden’s first priorities upon taking office. It purports to reclassify thousands of federal employees as at-will workers, stripping them of longstanding protections. Multiple lawsuits argue that Trump’s order violates laws guaranteeing those protections, plus the affected workers’ constitutional rights to due process. The order might also violate the Pendleton Act of 1883, which created the modern professional civil service, whereas Trump wants to take America back to the antiquated “spoils system,” when every new administration fired government workers en masse and replaced them with partisan loyalists.
20. Asking federal employees whom they voted for
Those attempting to join the Trump administration are being screened, apparently to determine whether they are sufficiently loyal. Applicants have reportedly been asked how they helped Trump win the election, when they had their “MAGA revelation,” whether they were committed to Trump’s agenda, and more. The Hatch Act of 1939 prohibits many federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity; it’s illegal to require them to do so.
21. Firing prosecutors who worked on the Trump indictments
Thanks to a century and a half of civil service reform, almost all of the nearly three million federal employees legally cannot be fired or demoted for political reasons. Trump’s removal of the prosecutors who worked on the cases against him may thus violate a number of federal laws — and two new suits by the FBI agents affected by Trump’s vengeance campaign are alleging exactly that.
22. Elon Musk’s seizure of federal payment systems
The Treasury Department processes 1.4 billion payments a year, and Musk and his minions have now taken over that system — giving them access to millions of Americans’ personal information. A new suit alleges that this takeover violates multiple federal privacy laws and the APA.
23. Levying tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico, and others
Trump’s tariff threats are a potentially unconstitutional abuse of executive power. He has tried to justify them by declaring a national emergency and invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 — also unprecedented and potentially illegal. Any tariffs against Mexico and Canada likely break the USMCA, a trade agreement signed in 2020 by none other than Trump himself.
Phew. There we have it. But if you think there have been even more, leave a comment below! I’ll keep adding to this list periodically.
And their argument would effectively mean that the U.S. has no jurisdiction over anyone who is physically present in the country but is not a citizen (or permanent resident, maybe). So any tourist in America can just go on a crime spree, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it? Really?!? Are you sure that’s what you want the law to be? I don’t doubt that there could be five Supreme Court justices who are craven enough to find a perversion of the 14th Amendment that they can trot out to explain why they’re siding with Trump. But whatever it is, it is going to be a truly embarrassing legal argument. The text of the amendment — what these so-called conservatives always claimed was their lodestar back in the day — is extremely clear and plain. We will, sadly, have to hope that some combination of Justices Barrett, Gorsuch, and Roberts do their jobs without succumbing to political machinations — but that is a longer piece for another time.
He violated the constitution when he pardoned insurrectionists. Amendment 14, section 3 prohibits aiding and abetting insurrectionists. Although he, too, is an insurrectionist, so his being president is unconstitutional.
It’s absolutely stunning that breaking the law has become so normalized, and it seems to just get glossed over. I go all the way back to Trump saying he could grab women by the P****y and that he could shoot someone on fifth avenue. When the comment came out about “grabbing women”, I thought for sure it was game over. Not so, and millions of women voted for him. That was a wtf moment for me and it’s been downhill ever since. If this was a democrat pulling all this shit, there’d be riots in the streets.