President Trump’s tug-of-war with the courts, explained

  The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a big win on June 27, 2025 by limiting the ability of judges to block Trump administration policies across the nation.

  But Trump has not fared nearly as well in the lower courts, where he has lost a series of cases through different levels of the federal court system. On June 5, a single judge temporarily stopped the administration from preventing Harvard University from enrolling international students.

Katherine Robertson: Obama seeks to transform nation’s second highest court

  This week, President Obama nominated three judges to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often viewed as the second highest court in America. Confirmation of these nominees would mark a substantial shift in the ideology of this powerful court that would likely last for decades. Currently, there are 14 sitting D.C. Circuit Court judges, eight of which are active and six of which are on senior status. Of the eight active judges, four are Republican appointees and four are Democrat. If President Obama’s nominees are seated, the Democrats would gain a 7-4 margin in active D.C. Circuit judges.