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When many federal lawsuits were filed against Donald J. Trump between 2017 and 2021?
Executive Summary
Between 2017 and 2021 a substantial wave of federal litigation involved Donald J. Trump, his administration, and policies tied to his presidency; these cases ranged from multistate suits challenging federal rules to civil suits naming Trump personally, and state-level actions such as California’s 123 lawsuits. Key counts vary by tracker and scope: multistate challenges numbered in the dozens annually, specialized litigation trackers list dozens of civil suits against Trump personally, and advocacy groups and states filed hundreds of separate actions against administration policies [1] [2] [3].
1. A Legal Storm Against an Administration — How many multistate federal suits were filed?
Federal and state attorneys general coordinated dozens of multistate lawsuits challenging Trump administration policies across environmental, immigration, health-care, and administrative-rule arenas. The Ballotpedia-style tally chronicled at least 156 multistate lawsuits during the first term, with 35 multistate suits filed in 2017 alone, reflecting rapid, repeated legal pushes by states against new federal actions [1]. These multistate suits were often filed to halt policy rollbacks or emergency rule changes; their frequency and concentration in certain years show sustained, organized legal resistance from state coalitions. The pattern is consistent with analyses noting that many suits alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and other procedural defects, leading to significant numbers of injunctions and partial victories for the states [3]. The volume of multistate actions indicates litigation was a primary check on administrative policy during 2017–2021.
2. Personal litigation vs. policy litigation — Different tallies, different targets
Counting lawsuits “against Donald J. Trump” depends on whether you mean suits naming him personally or challenges to his administration’s policies. Litigation trackers focused on Trump as an individual list roughly two dozen civil and criminal matters tracked as of early 2023, including defamation and fraud claims such as E. Jean Carroll’s suit and other high-profile cases [2]. Those personal suits differ legally and numerically from the hundreds of federal and state challenges targeting presidential actions, regulatory rollbacks, and agency directives across multiple plaintiffs. Confusion in public claims often arises when these distinct categories are conflated; the administration faced hundreds of policy-focused federal suits when aggregating single-state and multistate cases, while personal suits naming Trump individually number in the tens [2] [1].
3. California’s litigation tally — A concentrated front in one state
California’s attorney general recorded 123 lawsuits against the Trump administration between 2017 and 2021, exemplifying how a single state can drive a substantial portion of litigation aimed at federal policies. Those suits focused heavily on environmental rules, immigration enforcement, and health-care measures; California reported winning about two-thirds of its cases and spending roughly $10 million annually on litigation, underscoring the resource commitment and policy priorities behind state-led legal strategies [3]. California’s experience also shows the political dimension: Democratic-led states used litigation as a mechanism to contest administration priorities, and officials signaled readiness to resume such campaigns against future administrations, which explains continuity in state-level legal planning beyond Trump’s first term [3].
4. Advocacy groups and sectoral campaigns — Environment and beyond
Conservation and advocacy groups mounted persistent suits against administrative rollbacks, with organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity engaged in dozens to hundreds of targeted actions over endangered species protections, pollution standards, and public lands decisions. Early trackers from 2017 already documented substantial litigation activity in the environmental sector, and these cases contributed to the broader count of federal lawsuits between 2017 and 2021 [4]. These suits typically challenged rulemaking processes and sought injunctive relief, reflecting litigation as a tool to enforce statutory environmental protections when agencies moved to weaken safeguards. The environmental docket exemplifies how sector-focused NGOs can sustain prolonged legal pressure over an administration’s policy trajectory.
5. Reconciling counts and the bottom line — Why numbers vary and what they mean
Discrepancies in reported totals stem from differences in definitions, scope, and counting methodology: some tallies count only multistate suits, others count state-by-state filings, some include suits naming Trump personally, and others include NGO-led litigation. The most defensible summary is that the Trump administration faced hundreds of federal lawsuits challenging policies during 2017–2021, while trackers of personal litigation against Donald J. Trump list dozens of individual civil and criminal matters [1] [2] [3]. These distinct but overlapping litigation tracks together paint a picture of unusually high legal scrutiny and sustained judicial involvement in both policy disputes and personal legal controversies during that period.