May 15, 2025
While the Trump administration has initiated dangerous Executive Orders and policy changes at a dizzying pace, it has been countered at every step by litigation. And while the administration has succeeded in cowing some top law firms from challenging its edicts, there remain many attorneys, and legal organizations, that are uncowed and unbowed, and who have been steadfastly committed to using every legal means necessary, via an independent judiciary, to defend liberal democracy.
Every one of these efforts represents an important chink in the armor of authoritarianism.
The status of every one of the more than two hundred lawsuits can be tracked at three very reputable sites:
1. The Just Security Litigation Tracker: “This public resource tracks legal challenges to Trump administration actions. If you think we are missing anything, you can email us at lte@justsecurity.org. The Tracker is part of the Collection: Just Security’s Coverage of the Trump Administration’s Executive Actions. Readers may also be interested in signing up for our free Early Edition roundup of news and our end-of-day newsletter with Just Security articles. . . “
2. Lawfare Litigation Tracker: “The table tracks legal challenges to the Trump administration’s executive actions that deal with national security issues, as well as cases on behalf of the Trump administration to enforce them. You can sort the table by clicking the column titles and query keywords using the search box in the top left of the table.”
3. The New York Times, “Tracking the Lawsuits Against the Trump Agenda.”
It is important to appreciate that these efforts are being initiated, and coordinated, by legal organizations that play a crucial role in the independence of civil society:
The American Civil Liberties Union website can be accessed here.
Democracy Forward’s website can be accessed here.
Democracy Docket’s website can be accessed here.
The States United Democracy Center can be accessed here.
Each of the cases brought against the Trump administration, and each of the organizations bringing the cases, involves the dedicated and collaborative work of a great many legal professionals and civic activists. Each of these stories deserves to be told.
Perhaps the most high-profile individual associated with the legal resistance is Marc Elias, who according to an ABA profile “wears GOP scorn like ‘a badge of honor,’” and who recently published an essay at Democracy Docket entitled “I worry, but I fight.” Elias is a very well-connected and well-funded attorney with close ties to the Democratic party, and has come in for some criticism for these ties.
At the same time, as Common Dreams recently reported, a coalition of progressive legal groups have publicly called on establishment law forms to do more to develop an active and coordinated response to Trump administration measures. Mother Jones has profiled Rachel Cohen, a young associate at Skadden Arps who recently resigned due to her firm’s complacency, and who has publicly chastised successful firms for capitulating to Trump or for not doing more to resist him. Cohen then drafted an open letter that has been signed by hundreds of attorneys.
The Above the Law website has recently reported that Cohen is being honored for her efforts. Its reporter, Staci Zaretseky, deserves to have the last word:
The Rosenstrasse Civil Courage Foundation, a nonprofit organization based on “inspiring acts of civil courage in everyday life on behalf of democracy,” recently announced that it would be honoring two lawyers “for their courage at a time when the rule of law is under threat” — and one of them is Rachel Cohen. Here are some additional details on the lawyers who will be receiving RCCF’s Civil Courage Awards:
The RCCF will honor Nikki Fried, the prominent attorney, community organizer, and Chair of Florida’s Democratic Party, who was arrested in 2023 for violating Florida’s new anti-demonstration bans while supporting freedom of choice. We will also be recognizing Rachel A. Cohen, the associate lawyer at Skadden for organizing hundreds of other big law associates to press their leadership to stand up for the rule of law, and then resigning her position in protest of her firm’s deal with Donald J. Trump, as she stated in her recent testimony before a bicameral congressional panel.
Now is the time for you to follow Nikki and Rachel’s lead. Make your voices heard. Condemn Trump’s attacks against lawyers. Protect the profession. It is crucial that you rise up to protect the rule of law, which can only bend so much until it breaks and our democracy lays in ruins.
Jeffrey C. Isaac is the James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Small Acts of Legal Resistance