This Week in Democracy – Week 33: Trump Loses in Court. Again
Zeteo's project to document the ongoing, pressing, week-by-week growth of authoritarianism in Donald Trump's second term.
Federal judges dealt Donald Trump a series of blows this week on everything from his fight against Harvard to his move to cut nearly $5 billion in foreign aid to his administration’s plans to deport migrant children in the dead of the night.
It’s always refreshing to see at least the lower court judges push back on Trump and his illegal and authoritarian madness. But even so, the losing streak has not slowed down Trump and his allies’ efforts to harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, hurt free societies worldwide, and put Americans’ health at risk.
From ordering an unauthorized military strike on an alleged drug boat and escalating tensions with Venezuela to threatening another Democratic-led city with a possible National Guard deployment, here’s what Trump did this week that underscores the growth of authoritarianism in his second term:
Saturday, August 30
On Truth Social, Trump said he will sign an executive order to make voter ID mandatory for elections, a move he cannot legally make without Congress changing election laws. He also repeated calls to ban mail-in voting for most Americans and for the use of “PAPER BALLOTS ONLY!!!”
The New York Times reported that Trump pushed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a Nobel Peace Prize nomination after the president took credit for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan during a June phone call. Modi pushed back on Trump’s claims, saying the ceasefire was directly settled by the two countries, and refused to engage in a dialogue about the Nobel Peace Prize. Weeks later, Trump began imposing substantial tariffs on India.
ICE is set to gain access to spyware from the Tel Aviv-based company Paragon after the Trump administration reinstated its contract, which had been dropped by President Joe Biden. The spyware is designed to hack phones and both read and record private, encrypted messages. It has reportedly been used to target activists and journalists in Europe.
Sunday, August 31
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting approximately 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children back to their home country, while some of the children were already on planes ready for takeoff to Guatemala.
On Truth Social, Trump urged ABC News to fire commentators Donna Brazile and Chris Christie, calling Brazile “dumb as a rock, and a liar.” Trump also said the network should “pay me more!!!,” citing its $16 million libel settlement with the president in 2024.
Trump also baselessly warned that the US would, in many ways, “become a Third World Nation, with no hope of GREATNESS again,” if last week’s ruling by a federal appeals court, which found most of the president’s tariffs to be illegal, isn’t “immediately cancelled!”
The Trump administration suspended nearly all types of visitor visas for Palestinian passport holders.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on a post-war plan, devised by a group of Israelis, circulating within the Trump administration that would ethnically cleanse Gaza and turn the enclave into a tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing and technology hub, complete with the “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone,” the “MBS Ring,” and “Trump Riviera and Islands.” Under the plan – dubbed the GREAT Trust proposal – Palestinians who leave Gaza will be offered $5,000 and subsidies to cover one year of food costs and four years of rent in another country. As Zeteo contributor Diana Buttu noted, that pales in comparison to what Israeli settlers received when Israel evacuated them from Gaza in 2005.
Monday, September 1
On Truth Social, Trump announced that he will give former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Giuliani, who previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer, helped lead Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He was disbarred by a New York state appellate court in 2024 and reached a settlement with two Georgia election workers he defamed.
The New York Times reported that nearly 450,000 federal employees were stripped of their union protections in August due to Trump’s executive orders terminating their collective bargaining agreements.
Nine former directors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) penned an op-ed in the Times warning that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is “endangering every American’s health,” and adding that his actions are “unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency and unlike anything our country had ever experienced.”
Tuesday, September 2
Trump authorized a military strike on a boat in the Caribbean that his administration alleges was occupied by 11 members of the Tren de Aragua gang who were transporting drugs from Venezuela. The strike, which Trump said killed all 11 on board, took place without congressional approval and may have violated international human rights and maritime law. It remains unclear under what US legal or constitutional authority Trump took action or how the military determined that the individuals aboard the vessel were Tren de Aragua members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later said the military will keep assets in the region and strike anyone “trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco terrorist.”
A federal judge ruled that Trump’s deployment of the military to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the army from performing domestic law enforcement actions without authorization from Congress. While the judge noted that it’s legal to deploy the officials to protect federal property, he said that Trump is using the military as a “national police force with the President as its chief.”
A federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration from rapidly deporting Venezuelans accused of being in a gang under the Alien Enemies Act, finding there was no “invasion” or “predatory incursion” to do so, which is required under the 1798 wartime law.
The House Oversight Committee “released” more than 33,000 documents from the Epstein files, but they appeared to contain information already in the public domain, with Democrats saying 97% of them weren’t new.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump family earned as much as a $5 billion windfall after Trump’s venture, World Liberty Financial, opened trading of a new cryptocurrency. This likely makes the venture the Trump family’s most valuable asset, worth more than their property portfolio.
A federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration can move forward with the termination of more than $16 billion in grants authorized by the Biden administration for non-profit organizations to fight climate change.
The Department of Homeland Security said it would offer to pay the salaries and benefits of state and local police officers in jurisdictions that join a program to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The offer also includes up to 25% of an officer’s salary in overtime costs, along with performance-based bonuses for agencies in the program.
A federal appeals court reinstated a Biden appointee to the Federal Trade Commission, finding that Trump didn’t demonstrate “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office” when he fired her in March.
The Washington Post reported that Hegseth plans to reassign up to 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges after a request for assistance from the Department of Homeland Security. The move has raised concerns, including from one person involved in the planning of their reassignment, who says officers may not have experience or would receive insufficient training for immigration court proceedings, including deportation hearings.
A group of 85 top climate scientists warned that a recent climate assessment by Trump’s energy department “fails to adequately represent the current scientific understanding of climate change,” adding that, “No attempt appears to have been made to balance the points of view” by members working on the assessment. The scientists also said that the group “appears to have been personally recruited by the Secretary of Energy to advance a particular viewpoint favored by DOE leadership.”
AP reported that the Trump administration is requiring parents trying to reunite with their children who entered the US alone to attend identification checks where they may be questioned by immigration officers, according to a July policy memo. Legal advocacy organizations have said the move has led to some of the parents being arrested.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he will be sending federal law enforcement to both Chicago and Baltimore, but didn’t specify a timeline for the deployment. Trump also said that many of the people arrested as part of his DC crackdown on crime were “born to be criminals.”
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, issued an executive order to provide indefinite coordination with federal law enforcement. As the Washington Post writes, the order “may quell any showdown over what happens” when Trump’s 30-day federal takeover expires next week.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced what’s known as a discharge petition in an effort to force a vote on the release of the Epstein files. The measure must receive 218 signatures to succeed. A White House official later told NBC News in an email that Republicans deciding to sign on to the “attention-seeking” petition “would be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration.”
Republicans on the House Rules Committee voted against an amendment that would require the speaker to hang a commemorative plaque for police officers who protected lawmakers during the Jan. 6 insurrection, even though the plaque was commissioned by Congress more than three years ago.
The non-profit whistleblower and advocacy organization, Government Accountability Project, sent a letter to lawmakers and oversight agencies to call for investigations into the “illegal retaliation” by the Trump administration against more than 30 FEMA employees, who were suspended and put on paid leave after signing an open letter warning Congress about issues at the agency. The letter said the suspensions “blatantly violate the federal laws protecting whistleblowers” and asked lawmakers to reinstate the affected employees.
NPR reported that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a new policy last week that bans nongovernmental groups like the League of Women Voters from registering new voters at naturalization ceremonies, in a move the League’s CEO calls “an attempt to keep new citizens from accessing their full rights.”
CNN reported that the Trump administration is expected to extend its military orders to keep National Guard troops who were deployed to DC in the area through December to ensure the service members receive benefits, which require them to participate in active orders for more than 30 days.
Attorney General Pam Bondi issued several immigration rulings setting new precedents for immigration judges across the country, which will limit asylum for immigrant families targeted by gangs, along with victims of domestic violence.
Wednesday, September 3
The New York Times reported that Trump’s advisers have discussed offering positions in the administration to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the city’s Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa in an effort to help former Governor Andrew Cuomo defeat frontrunner and Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani in November’s general election. Politico later reported that Adams, who met with Trump’s team in Florida earlier this week, was offered a position at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
During a press conference where survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s abuse called on lawmakers and the Justice Department to release the entirety of the files related to the sex traffickers, survivor Lisa Phillips announced that the group would create a confidential list of Epstein associates on their own if the government doesn’t take action, saying, “We will confidently compile the names we all know were regularly in the Epstein world.”
The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s ruling that found the majority of the president’s tariffs illegal, claiming in the filing that tariffs “are promoting peace and unprecedented economic prosperity" and warning that a failure to allow them to move forward “would expose our nation to trade retaliation without effective defenses and thrust America back to the brink of economic catastrophe.” The administration also filed a motion to expedite the case.
More than 1,000 current and former Department of Health and Human Services employees signed a letter calling for RFK Jr. to resign, saying he “continues to endanger the nation’s health.” They say if Kennedy doesn’t resign, Trump and Congress should appoint a new secretary, “one whose qualifications and experience ensure that health policy is informed by independent and unbiased peer-reviewed science.”
AP reported that Trump is expected to ask the Supreme Court to overturn a jury decision in a civil lawsuit that found him liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll, along with defamation, according to a filing last week that saw his lawyers ask the Supreme Court to extend a deadline for challenging the verdict to mid-November as Trump “intends to seek review” of “significant issues” related to the trial and an appeals court upholding the decision. In response, Carroll’s lawyer said, “We do not believe that President Trump will be able to present any legal issues in the Carroll cases that merit review” by the Supreme Court.
The House voted to toss a censure resolution against Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver, which would have also resulted in her removal from the Committee on Homeland Security. McIver was charged in May with assaulting and interfering with ICE agents at an immigration detention facility in New Jersey. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
House Republicans voted to establish a new subcommittee tasked with another investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The Washington Post reported that a senior Justice Department official recently tried to gain access to voting equipment used by two Republican clerks in Missouri during the 2020 presidential election, a request the outlet called “unusual.”
The Post also reported that the top vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration, who is an ally of RFK Jr., is requiring new clinical trials before allowing pharmaceutical companies to claim that getting multiple respiratory virus vaccines, including for COVID-19 and the flu, is safe and effective, despite long-standing guidance encouraging multiple immunizations at the same time.
The Trump administration terminated the Temporary Protected Status of nearly 270,000 immigrants from Venezuela who enrolled in a 2021 program under the Biden administration, and encouraged them to self-deport from the US or risk facing deportation proceedings.
Trump suggested that he may deploy National Guard troops to New Orleans, a blue city in the red state of Louisiana.
Trump renewed his threat to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship – a move he legally cannot do. Trump’s Truth Social post was shared by the official White House Twitter account along with a distorted photo of his prominent critic.
The Department of Homeland Security opened a new immigration detention facility at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola, where 51 immigrants have already been taken into custody. Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the US, was built on the grounds of a cotton plantation, and individuals incarcerated there are forced to work in the fields in extreme heat for as little as pennies an hour and face punishment if they refuse to work.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from freezing over $2 billion in federal research grants from Harvard University, calling the move illegal and accusing the administration of using “antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from canceling $4.9 billion in foreign aid that had been appropriated by Congress, thwarting the president’s attempt to use a “pocket rescission” to claw back the funding. In his decision, the judge ordered the release of $11.5 billion in funds that are set to expire at the end of the month.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow said the Trump administration is planning to make the US citizenship test harder, calling the current test “just too easy.”
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll extended orders for National Guard troops to remain on active duty in DC until Nov. 30, though Trump could still terminate the mission earlier.
Thursday, September 4
Reuters reported that current and former FBI employees are concerned that Trump’s use of agents in his DC law enforcement takeover is exposing the agency’s fleet of unmarked cars, which could compromise its national security and surveillance work.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s Justice Department launched an investigation into Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, following two criminal referrals for alleged mortgage fraud by the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The investigation, which has already resulted in the issuing of subpoenas, is being led by Trump’s “weaponization czar” and DOJ special attorney Ed Martin, who sent a letter to Fed chair Jerome Powell last month calling for him to fire Cook. In response, her lawyer noted that questions over how she described her properties aren’t fraud, “but it takes nothing for this DOJ to undertake a new politicized investigation, and they appear to have just done it again.”
The recently fired CDC director, Susan Monarez, penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal warning that while she lost her job, “America’s children could lose far more,” noting that she was directed to preapprove recommendations from a vaccine advisory panel “filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric” without reviewing them. She added, “The CDC can’t fulfill its obligation to the American people if its leader can’t demand proof in decision-making.”
ProPublica reported that three members of Trump’s Cabinet – Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin – have claimed more than one primary residence on mortgage applications, the same practice Trump has targeted political enemies over. In a statement, a White House spokesperson called the report “another hit piece” and claimed the Cabinet members “have followed the law” and are “fully compliant with all ethical obligations.”
In a press release, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it’s adding law enforcement agents for the first time. Their tasks will include making arrests, carrying firearms, and executing search and arrest warrants for immigrants who “violate America’s immigration laws.”
The Pentagon approved the use of a Chicago-area Navy base as a hub for the Department of Homeland Security as part of its crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The base could also be used to house National Guard troops or military members if Trump deploys them to the city.
The president of Northwestern University announced that he would resign following the Trump administration’s freezing of nearly $800 million in research funding, calling for the school to preserve “academic freedom, integrity, and independence.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a notice of appeal in an effort to reverse an August ruling and reinstate a roughly $500 million fine against Trump in his civil fraud case.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio placed new sanctions on three Palestinian non-governmental organizations that have participated in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, saying in a press release that the department “will actively oppose actions that threaten our national interests and infringe on the sovereignty of the United States and our allies, including Israel.”
The acting deputy chief of a Justice Department unit was caught on a hidden camera by the far-right O’Keefe Media Group saying that the government will “redact every Republican” from a list of Epstein associates and “leave all the liberal, Democratic people in those files.” He also said Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison in an effort to offer “her something to keep her mouth shut.” In a statement, the official said his comments were based on “what I’ve learned in the media and not from anything I’ve done at or learned via work.” On Twitter, a DOJ spokesperson said the official’s comments “have absolutely zero bearing with reality and reflect a total lack of knowledge of the DOJ’s review process.”
Trump filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court to block the reinstatement of a Biden-appointed Federal Trade Commission member and let her termination proceed while the legality of the move is challenged in court.
Multiple outlets reported that the Justice Department is considering banning trans people from owning firearms by designating being trans as a mental illness that could disqualify someone from possessing a firearm under existing regulations.
A federal appeals court temporarily authorized the continuation of operations at the Florida immigration detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” until a lower court makes a final decision in the case.
The Financial Times reported that the Trump administration is expected to halt security assistance programs for some European countries, including one designed to train and arm militaries in Eastern Europe that would be on the frontline of any conflict with Russia.
Trump’s Justice Department sued the city of Boston and Mayor Michelle Wu over sanctuary policies it calls an “intentional effort to obstruct” the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
DC sued the Trump administration to block the president’s federal law enforcement takeover, arguing the deployment of out-of-state troops violates the Constitution and federal law, writing in the lawsuit, “No American jurisdiction should be involuntarily subjected to military occupation.”
A federal appeals court temporarily lifted a judge’s order restricting the Trump administration’s use of National Guard troops in Los Angeles as the president appeals the ruling.
In a court filing, the Trump administration warned that the government will seek to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to El Salvador if his attempt to open an asylum case in the US is successful, arguing the move would nullify an earlier ruling meant to prevent him from being sent back to his home country.
PBS laid off 34 employees due to Trump’s defunding of the public broadcaster.
Friday, September 5
The New York Times reported that Trump advisers are working on a plan to nominate New York City Mayor Eric Adams to be the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia if he drops out of the upcoming mayoral election. In a statement, Adams said, “While I will always listen if called to serve our country, no formal offers have been made” for a position in the Trump administration and that he is still running for re-election.
The Times also reported that in 2019, during Trump’s first term, the president greenlit a top secret operation which sent a team of Navy SEALs to North Korea to plant an electronic device in an effort to intercept the communications of Kim Jong-Un. The mission was unsuccessful after the SEALs killed a boat crew of unarmed civilians and sank their bodies. The Trump administration never told Congressional leaders about the operation, potentially violating federal law.
Trump went on an unhinged rant on Truth Social about the Epstein scandal, which he once again blamed on Democrats who “only brought [it] back to life … because they are doing so poorly.” He claimed that Democratic lawmakers “don’t care about the victims,” calling the controversy around the Epstein files “merely another Democrat HOAX … in order to deflect and distract” from Trump’s success.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced that the Georgia National Guard is deploying approximately 300 troops to DC to assist with Trump’s federal law enforcement takeover.
The US ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico to assist with military operations against drug cartels in the Caribbean.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending the Temporary Protected Status of more than one million people from Haiti and Venezuela.
Trump signed an executive order to make the Department of War the secondary title for the Department of Defense, a move that gets around Congressional approval to formally rename a federal agency.
He also signed another executive order that would establish a designation for state sponsors of wrongful detention, which will allow the US to punish countries for illegally detaining US citizens or taking them hostage.
Speaking to reporters, Trump responded to Venezuela flying jets over US ships, saying, “If they put us in a dangerous position, they will be shot down.”
He announced that the US will host the G20 summit in 2026 at his resort in Miami, where the attendees will be billed at cost.
Trump once again called for the release of Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who was convicted of several charges after using someone’s security badge to allow an associate of Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to access county election equipment following the 2020 presidential election. While Trump added that his administration is “going to do something” about it, the president isn’t able to pardon individuals convicted of state charges.
Fox reported that ICE sent an email to Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to notify them that the agency now plans to deport him to Eswatini based on his fear of prosecution or torture, a claim ICE says “is hard to take seriously.”
“Take it down today, right now!” Trump ordered the removal of the White House Peace Vigil tent, ending a 44-year protest against nuclear weapons and war, after a far-right journalist told him it had become an “eyesore” and “anti-Trump.”
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I'd like to see evidence that the 11 Venezuelans killed were indeed drug traffickers. Along with the fact that the US committed an illegal act, surely the drugs were confiscated. Where's the evidence?
Look at the behavior in North Korea, where innocent civilians were killed and their ship sunk.
Is the US becoming an international terrorist?
Thank you, AGAIN, Mehdi for this outstanding newsletter. I couldn't keep track of all the lies, outrages, crimes, and stupidity without you. Take care and have a great weekend, Donald Auguston