US President Donald Trump and his administration have been named as defendants in a series of lawsuits filed on the first day after his inauguration. The lawsuits concern key executive orders signed by Trump immediately after taking office and reflect the legal battle that has begun over sweeping changes made by the new administration, Bloomberg reports.
One of the first lawsuits was filed by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents employees at 37 federal agencies and departments. The lawsuit challenges Trump’s executive order making it easier to fire top federal employees. The union argues that the order violates employees’ constitutional due process rights, as established by Congress.
"This decree significantly transforms the civil service by creating a category of exceptional employees who can be dismissed without the right to appeal," — says the lawsuit, which will be heard in federal court in Washington.
Another lawsuit was filed by a number of immigrant rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They are challenging Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship. Under the order, children of migrants who are in the U.S. temporarily or illegally are no longer eligible for automatic citizenship. The plaintiffs argue that the order violates the rights of millions of people and is contrary to the spirit of the U.S. Constitution.
The third lawsuit was filed by the law firm National Security Counselors. It concerns the creation of the new US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The plaintiffs claim that the department’s activities violate the 1972 Conflict of Interest and Transparency Act. The lawsuit emphasizes that the creation of DOGE fails to meet requirements for disclosure, ideological balance, and hiring.
The lawsuits come amid numerous executive orders signed by Trump in the first hours after his inauguration on January 20. Among them are the repeal of 78 executive orders and memoranda from the previous administration of Joe Biden, the introduction of a legislative norm establishing two genders in the United States: male and female, the declaration of a state of emergency at the borders due to illegal immigration, as well as the pardoning of some participants in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.