How does the number of constitutional violation lawsuits against the Biden administration compare to previous administrations?
Executive summary
Legal challenges to the Biden administration were unusually numerous and high-profile, with multiple state attorneys general — notably Texas AG Ken Paxton — touting 100+ suits filed by his office alone against the administration [1] [2]. Comparative trackers show multistate litigation counts through 1981–2025 and indicate Biden-era actions generated dozens of multi‑state suits early in his term, with reporting that courts and conservative legal strategists produced a string of significant defeats for the administration by early 2025 [3] [4].
1. Litigation numbers: a chorus of state suits, and a few prolific plaintiffs
Republican state attorneys general were a major engine of litigation against Biden policies; Texas’ office claims it filed its 100th suit against the Biden‑Harris administration, and Paxton’s press releases describe his 106th filing as part of a sustained campaign alleging constitutional violations [1] [2]. Ballotpedia’s compilation, drawing on the State Litigation and AG Activity Database, lists multistate lawsuits and provides a chart comparing total multistate suits across administrations from 1981–2025, showing an elevated count during Biden’s tenure [3].
2. What counts as a “constitutional violation” lawsuit is contested
Many of the actions characterized by state officials as “constitutional” challenges mix claims under constitutional provisions with statutory and administrative‑law arguments — e.g., Paxton’s asylum and election‑monitoring suits frame Appointments Clause and federal‑statutory issues as constitutional wrongs [5] [6]. The ACLU’s criticism that the administration defended surveillance authorities under Section 702 shows a civil‑liberties perspective that frames certain executive acts as constitutional risks even as the administration argued legal defensibility [7]. Available sources do not supply a single, agreed‑upon tally limited to pure “constitutional violation” lawsuits.
3. Early term comparisons: faster legal pushback than some predecessors
Observers noted that litigation against Biden came quickly: Texas sued within days, and within Biden’s first 100 days reporting suggested “fewer than 50” suits had been filed against his administration in one account, which placed Biden’s early litigation roughly comparable with or higher than some prior presidents’ early‑term tallies cited for Obama [8] [9]. Ballotpedia’s multistate chart provides context that multistate actions against Biden were prominent compared with prior administrations, although it aggregates a specific subset of litigation [3].
4. Litigation outcomes: notable losses at the Supreme Court and lower courts
Major rulings and appellate decisions were unfavorable for the administration on several fronts; Reuters reported a “historic series of defeats” at the U.S. Supreme Court through January 2025, describing a pattern of the Court limiting administrative authority and reversing or blocking prominent Biden initiatives [4]. Other outlets and advocacy groups documented court rulings striking down elements of the administration’s policies, including student loan forgiveness and pandemic‑era mandates, which opponents framed as constitutional overreach [10] [11].
5. Partisan strategies and litigation as policymaking by other means
Sources show Republican state officials framed litigation as a tool to check what they called “abuses of power” and to force judicial resolution of policy disputes — e.g., Paxton’s rhetoric that lawsuits upheld constitutional order [1] [2]. Legal analysts argue litigation has become a central venue for contested executive action on immigration, healthcare, environment and regulatory policy; a legal‑industry analyst described 2025’s “executive‑order wars” and the strategic use of judges and venues to shape policy outcomes [12].
6. Limits of available reporting and what’s missing
Available sources compile multistate and high‑profile suits and highlight prolific plaintiffs, but they do not provide a single normalized count that isolates only “constitutional violation” claims across all administrations, nor do they produce a clean apples‑to‑apples comparison by year, claim type, plaintiff politics, or outcomes [3] [12]. Detailed, neutral databases (beyond the Ballotpedia excerpt) or court dockets would be required to produce a rigorous, statistically valid cross‑administration comparison; that is not present in the provided reporting [3].
7. Bottom line: Biden faced unusually intense litigation pressure, but context matters
The record in these sources shows an intense and sustained wave of lawsuits against the Biden administration — driven by Republican state AGs and conservative groups, producing many high‑stakes rulings and several Supreme Court losses — but whether that equals a uniquely higher level of “constitutional violation” lawsuits compared with prior administrations depends on definitions and datasets not included in the current reporting [1] [4] [3]. Readers should treat counts publicized by partisan offices (e.g., Paxton’s 100+ figure) as political messaging backed by many filings, and consult neutral docket trackers or academic datasets for a more granular cross‑administration comparison [1] [3].