How many lawsuits has Donald Trump won compared to losses?

1. What people mean when they ask “how many lawsuits has Trump won?” — scope matters

Assembling a single win–loss record requires choosing which lawsuits to count: regulatory challenges to administration rules, state AG suits, private defamation and business suits, criminal prosecutions (not “wins” in civil terms), and settlements that are neither clear wins nor losses; different trackers count different things ^{[3] [4]}. Democracy Forward and the Institute for Policy Integrity focus narrowly on federal agency deregulatory or policy litigation and report 79 losses in 85 such cases ^[1]. Other outlets and trackers catalogue hundreds of distinct actions against the administration since 2025, but do not consolidate every outcome into a single win/loss percentage ^{[5] [6]}.

2. The narrow picture: regulatory and agency rule litigation

Analyses cited by advocacy groups find the Trump administration lost the vast majority of challenges to its deregulatory and policy rules in court: 79 losses out of 85 cases, which is presented as a 7.1% win rate for that category ^[1]. CalMatters summarizes similar research about his first term, saying the administration lost more than two‑thirds of lawsuits filed against its rules and stating a roughly 31% win rate for those cases in that period — showing methodology and time period shift totals materially ^[2].

3. Broader trackers show many active matters but fewer adjudicated outcomes

Public trackers such as Just Security, Lawfare and AP document hundreds of legal challenges to Trump administration actions and executive orders, and they emphasize that many cases remain pending, consolidated, or appealed; they do not report a single, all‑in win/loss tally because so many matters are in flux ^{[3] [4] [6]}. The Fulcrum noted that since January 2025 there were over 186 legal actions filed and only a handful adjudicated early on, underscoring that raw filing counts do not equal final judicial outcomes ^[5].

4. Private, business and media suits complicate any tally

Trump has pursued and faced many private civil suits — defamation, business fraud, contract disputes — that produce settlements, dismissals, mixed rulings and appeals. Examples in the public record include high‑profile settlements with media companies and ongoing suits against outlets; Wikipedia and other coverage list numerous settlements and appeals, showing outcomes vary and sometimes reverse on appeal ^{[7] [8] [9]}. These settlements can look like “wins” or “losses” depending on what metric you use (money received, reputational damage, legal precedent) ^{[7] [10]}.

5. Appeals, stays and reversals matter — a single ruling rarely ends the story

Several major civil rulings against Trump or his businesses have been stayed or altered on appeal: for instance, the New York business‑fraud trial resulted in heavy penalties that an appeals court later voided in part, demonstrating how appellate courts can change the practical outcome ^[8]. The New York Times and Reuters coverage of Supreme Court and appellate action likewise show that injunctions, stays and reversals are frequent in high‑profile Trump litigation ^{[9] [11]}.

6. What the available sources do not provide — and why you should be cautious

Available sources do not provide a single, authoritative count of “all lawsuits won vs. lost” covering civil, administrative and criminal matters combined; public trackers separate categories and many cases remain unresolved ^{[3] [4] [6]}. Where sources give percentages, they reflect differing scopes and timeframes: the 79/85 figure is specific to federal agency deregulatory/policy cases ^[1]; the 31% figure applies to California’s analysis of suits against federal rules in his first term ^[2].

7. How to interpret competing figures — methodology is the story

When assessing competing tallies, ask: which cases were counted, how is “win” defined (trial verdict, settlement, dismissal, preliminary injunction, reversal on appeal), and what cutoff date was used. Advocacy groups and state journalists are transparent about their scope: Democracy Forward highlights the Institute for Policy Integrity’s federal‑rule focus, while CalMatters frames the metric as suits against rules in the first term — both valid for their aims but not interchangeable ^{[1] [2]}.

Bottom line: you can cite rigorous, narrow statistics (e.g., 79 losses in 85 federal deregulatory cases) but no single source in the available reporting aggregates every Trump lawsuit across civil, administrative and criminal dockets into one definitive win/loss record ^{[1] [3] [4]}.