Big Round of New Trump Administration Smackdowns From Federal Judges

INSIDE: Mary S. McElroy ... Jeffrey Clark ... Brian Kemp

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 06: U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on May 06, 2026 in Washington, DC. Trump was joined by UFC fighters to talk about the June 14th UFC Freedom 250 match to be held outside the White House. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Judges Rein in the Administration and …

I want to give you the flavor of a handful of new smackdowns of the Trump administration from federal judges across the country in an array of cases, involving violations of the law, defiance of court orders, and assorted shenanigans.

All of these are from the last day or two, so a particularly notable cluster, even if ultimate accountability to the rule of law continues to be slow in coming:

Rhode Island: Anti-Trans Subpoena Quashed

In a sharply worded order that bristled with disdain for what the Justice Department has become under President Trump, U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy of Rhode Island blocked an administrative subpoena of Rhode ‌Island Hospital for its records on gender-affirming care for transgender ​youth.

McElroy lets it rip right from the top:

She concludes: “[T]he discrepancy between the honorable conduct expected of federal prosecutors and DOJ’s tactics in this case is unsettling. The Court cannot help but share the sentiment that ‘[t]he presumption of regularity that has previously been extended to [DOJ] that it could be taken at its word—with
little doubt about its intentions and stated purposes—no longer holds.’”

This is the case that has played out in parallel in Rhode Island and Texas, where DOJ went to Trump-friendly U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor to enforce the subpoena against the hospital. O’Connor granted the administration’s motion the same day it was filed without giving the hospital a chance to respond and then denied the hospital motion to stay while it appealed.

While McElroy stepped in, she made clear she wasn’t purporting to overrule O’Connor, which she doesn’t have the power to do. “What this Court holds is that the subpoena itself lacks a congressionally authorized purpose, was issued for an improper purpose, and demands the production of records that cannot be obtained consistent with the constitutional privacy rights of Rhode Island children.”

For the full backstory on the case, the always-on-it Chris Geidner has you covered.

DC: A New ‘Facilitate’ Case

Citing Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of a Colombian national it has deported last month to the Democratic Republic of Congo after the DRC refused to accept her because of her serious medical issues.

The DRC government told ICE in a letter it could not accept the 55-year-old woman because it could not provide her with adequate medical care.

“The government sent her to the D.R.C., anyway. …. Sending plaintiff to the D.R.C., therefore, was likely illegal,” Leon wrote.

Colorado: Injunction Violation

U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson of Denver found that ICE has “materially violated” his preliminary injunction barring warrantless arrests without first establishing probable cause they are a flight risk. Jackson imposed a host of new reporting and training requirements on ICE.

DC: First Amendment Violation

In another ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon found that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment when it sanctioned United Nations official Francesca Albanese over her calls for war crimes charges against Israeli officials.

“Albanese has done nothing more than speak!” Leon wrote. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions — they are nothing more than her opinion.”

… The Administration Pushes Back

At the same time the administration was taking it on the chin in the case above, it made two aggressive new moves:

DC: Jan 6 Never Ends

In a major escalation of its attack on state bars, the Trump DOJ filed suit to block the DC bar from disciplining Jan. 6 coup plotter Jeffrey Clark as an unconstitutional infringement on federal power. The lawsuit, which was signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward but no career attorneys, also comes to the defense of U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin, who faces disciplinary proceedings in DC.

Rhode Island: New Attack on Judge

In a column at the right-wing Federalist, DHS general counsel James Percival launched a new attack on U.S. District Judge Melissa R. DuBose of Rhode Island, accusing her of being a “radical” and “activist” who is “engaged in a political public affairs battle and intimidation campaign against DHS” after she referred a DOJ lawyer for possible discipline. This is the case where the DOJ, at ICE’s request, withheld from the judge the fact that an ICE detainee was wanted on murder charges abroad, and then DHS attacked her for releasing an alleged murderer.

The Great Whitening: An Update

• South Carolina: Despite GOP opposition in the state Senate, Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to call a special session of the legislature to redraw the state’s congressional district map before the midterms and eliminate the sole Democratic seat, held by Rep. James Clyburn (D). The special session could start as soon as tomorrow, after the regular session ends today. McMaster’s move was a reversal from his previous opposition to a special session and came after pressure from President Trump and his allies and just days after the state Senate failed to pass a measure that would have led to a special session.

• Mississippi: Gov. Tate Reeves (R) will no longer call a special session of the legislature to redraw the state’s Supreme Court districts and seemed to take off the table any monkeying with the state’s congressional district map until after the midterms.

• Maryland: Maryland state Senate President Bill Ferguson (D), who blocked a push last year to redraw the state’s congressional district map and eliminate the state’s sole GOP seat, held by Rep. Andy Harris (R), is “talking to allies about a path forward on possible redistricting,” NOTUS reports.

• Georgia: Gov. Brian Kemp (R) called a special session of the legislature to redraw the state’s congressional district map for the 2028 elections, keeping his commitment to leave the map alone for the 2026 election but making sure the map is redrawn before he leaves office in January while Republicans still control the statehouse.

It’s Always Black Women

While Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) isn’t pushing to change the state’s congressional district map before the midterms, he did sign into a law a sneaky GOP bill targeting the Democratic-heavy Atlanta area.

The new law takes party affiliation off the ballot for county elected offices in five metro Atlanta counties, including plurality-Black Fulton County, so that Republicans have a better shot of winning without the “R” by their names; but it retains party affiliation for county elected offices in Republican-heavy rural areas.

“All five counties covered by the law have Black Democratic women serving as district attorney,” the AJC reports. That of course includes GOP target Fani Willis in Fulton County.

This is exactly the kind of nonsense that pre-clearance under the Voting Rights Act was intended to scupper before it disadvantaged minority voters. But Chief Justice John Roberts famously torpedoed pre-clearance in 2013’s Shelby County v. Holder decision.

Quote of the Day

Civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill:

[T]he effort by Trump and Republican state leadership to gerrymander Black representation out of Congress must be understood as not only an attack on Black people, but on democracy itself. If the Republican racial gerrymandering effort is successful, the U.S. will lose any claim to democracy for a generation or more.

And the forces that stand today against citizenship and political representation for Black people won’t stop there. They will not tolerate meaningful political representation for any group that opposes their oligarchical Christian nationalist ideology. They seek a one-party political system in a country ruled by authoritarians. The political oppression of Black people is not the end. It is the conduit.

CIA in Mexico: The Plot Thickens

This is the first time I’ve linked from Morning Memo to my own social media post, and I won’t make it a habit, but this thread is an efficient way to catch up on this week’s important developments:

Hot tips? Juicy scuttlebutt? Keen insights? Let me know. For sensitive information, use the encrypted methods here.