White House memo aims to chill emergency lawsuits by making plaintiffs pay

The Trump administration is taking a shot at the onslaught of emergency lawsuits being filed against it by invoking a rarely used rule that can force people who challenge the government to post money at the start of a court case, according to a White House memo.

The Trump administration is taking a shot at the onslaught of emergency lawsuits being filed against it by invoking a rarely used rule that can force people who challenge the government to post money at the start of a court case, according to a White House memo. In theory, the move could chill individuals, unions and advocacy groups from filing cases, and legal experts say it could be a sly and potentially effective tool for the Justice Department. Several lawsuits against the Trump administration are being filed each day, often in opposition to immigration and diversity policy changes, spending freezes, the firing of government employees and the efforts of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. As of Thursday, nearly 100 lawsuits like these are active in the federal courts. The White House circulated the memo to agency leaders on Thursday criticizing the lawsuits as partisan-driven efforts that are potentially frivolous, “undermining the democratic process” and exploiting courts where there may be sympathetic judges. But a handful of the lawsuits have been successful in early stages, convincing judges that changes the Trump administration has made may be unlawful, and agencies have had to put on hold some of the administration’s plans. One federal judge on Thursday, for instance, decided the Trump administration “put itself above Congress” unlawfully when it categorically froze federal grants toward states’ health care programs and to highway, electric grid, broadband and clean water improvement projects. Nearly all of the cases against the administration are still ongoing, with some advancing into evidence-gathering phases and then, likely, to appeals.