Trump Tracker: Status report on his executive orders
A useful guide to all the executive orders since Trump took office and where they stand in the courts.
For everyone struggling to keep track of President Trump’s executive orders and resistance against them, I’ve started this Trump Tracker. I’ll try to keep it up-to-date, even just to keep my head straight.
You can find a comprehensive list in several places, including on the White House website, but the one I found most useful was a list on Wikipedia, which includes links to each order and is well organized and informative. I gathered most of this information just by searching for news stories on the topics.
The questions I cannot answer but remain curious about: Will the district court decisions blocking Trump’s orders hold or will these cases be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court? Will Trump and his allies obey the courts or just keep going? How many more orders will be issued over the next months and years? Will Congress and the Supreme Court do anything to stop the president’s plans? I guess we’ll have to keep paying attention.
Birthright Citizenship: Executive Order No. 14160 challenged the constitutionality of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says anyone born in the United States is automatically a U.S. citizen.
Effect: None.
Next: Has been challenged successfully in different federal courts and appears to be dead for now, but could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
DOGE: Executive Order No. 14158 established the Department of Government Efficiency. This new government department, which has not been approved by Congress or added to the Constitution, is still having a big impact on the federal government. The U.S. Agency for International Development has been shuttered, federal employees have been put on notice that their jobs may be cut, and DOGE agents are digging into confidential government financial records to figure out how they want to cut government spending. Next agency target appears to be the Department of Education.
Effect: USAID is just the first impact, from this and Order No. 14169, and reports or other actions seem to come daily.
Next: Multiple lawsuits have been filed to fight the various actions of DOGE. A federal judge has blocked DOGE access to the Department of the Treasury’s payment system, after a lawsuit was filed by attorney generals from 19 states. But the legal trail is complex. A judge told several federal agencies, including the Health and Human Services Department, they need to restore their websites. In other courts, Trump’s deadline to force federal employees to accept buyout orders has been put on hold. Twenty-two states have sued over the National Institutes of Health’s new guidelines on federal dollars for research projects. A federal judge declined to prevent DOGE from accessing Department of Labor information.
Immigration: Executive Order No. 14148 allows the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to conduct raids in schools, churches and hospitals, which used to be illegal. A related order, No. 14165 renews Trump’s promise to build a wall on the southern border and strengthen enforcement of border protections.
Effect: So far fear is the main effect of this order but since farmworkers have been among the first targets, this order may not only affect the workers but the American food supply.
Next: A coalition of religious groups are suing over ICE raids saying the Trump policy on immigrants is cutting church attendance because people are afraid of raises at their houses of worship. This interferes with their ability to minister, a right protected by the Constitution.
Gender Identity: Executive Order No. 14168 establishes a U.S. policy that there are only two sexes and gender doesn’t exist. The order tells federal agencies to rewrite rules and regulations with this information in mind and requires federal identification documents to adhere as well. Order No. 14201 would limit who can play in girls’ and women’s sports leagues.
Effect: It appears these new rules are being executed immediately and the impact could be wide ranging. The NCAA has already announced that college sports will comply and only allow athletes who were assigned female at birth to play on women’s teams.
Next: A group of transgender people are suing in U.S. District Court in Boston over the ban on nonbinary people using the X gender marker on passports. In the lawsuit brought by the ACLU, the plaintiffs say the new rule did not comply with a requirement for a 60-day notice and comment period and that it discriminates based on sex, and transgender status. In another lawsuit, three states (Washington, Oregon and Minnesota) are suing over a ban on federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19.
Offshore Wind Farms: A Jan. 20 presidential memorandum (different from an order) temporarily bans future offshore wind farm leases in federal water. Calls for a review of the practice by the Interior, Agriculture and Energy secretaries, as well as the EPA.
Effect: Doesn’t appear to affect current wind farms with existing leases, yet.
Next: People on both sides are trying to figure out the future impact. Law firm Perkins Coie says the government review of this practice could lead to current leases being terminated or amended and projects waiting for federal approval could be in jeopardy.
Other Energy and Environment Orders: A series of executive orders on Jan. 20 call for different actions to increase the American fuel supply. They include more oil drilling in Alaska, eliminating the electric vehicle “mandate,” stopping “unduly burdensome” regulations of energy and mineral exploration, and revoking Biden administration environmental regulations that prioritized clean energy. Trump also signed an order pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement.
Effect: Credits for purchasing an electric vehicle were approved by Congress so likely need Congressional action to eliminate.
Next: Environmental organizations are figuring out their next steps.
Government DEI Programs: Executive orders No. 14151 and 14173 would end programs to support diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility within federal agencies, and ordering federal departments to not contract with private organizations that enforce DEI frameworks.
Effect: Still to be seen.
Next: Coalition of DEI advocates have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland calling these orders vague and unconstitutional.
National names: Executive Order No. 14172 renames the highest mountain in North America from Denali back to Mount McKinley, renames the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of America and promises to keep renaming other places and monuments “that honor American greatness.”
Effect: Names are already changing on official and unofficial maps, including Google maps.
Next: Alaska’s two U.S. Senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan object to this plan. In a statement, Murkowski said, “You can’t improve upon the name that Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans bestowed on North America’s tallest peak, Denali: the Great One.” The name of the mountain was officially changed to Denali in 2015 after years of advocacy by Alaska lawmakers. They note that President William McKinley never even visited the state and the mountain was called Denali long before the U.S. was founded.
Federal Death Penalty: Jan. 20 executive order No. 14164 reasserts using the federal death penalty and says this punishment must be pursued when a law-enforcement officer is murdered and if a capital crime is committed by a non-citizen in the U.S. illegally.
Effect: None yet.
Next: Nothing yet.
World Health Organization: Executive Order No. 14155 withdraws U.S. from World Health Organization, which is a repeat of action Trump took in his first administration.
Effect: The U.S. is the largest funder of this organization and by pulling our membership, the U.S. would pull its financial support. The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says the real impact will be seen the next time the world faces a global health threat like the COVID pandemic.
Next: It will take a while to completely withdraw and things could change.
Various Technology Orders: A group of executive orders make statements on Artificial Intelligence, digital financial technology and related issues and seem to be responses to concerns expressed by the president’s friends in the tech companies.
Effect: These seem to remove regulations that have held these companies back from making more money.
Next: We’ll see what happens.
Military: Various orders doing things like reinstating service members discharged because they wouldn’t get a COVID vaccine. Another order eliminates DEI offices in the military.
Effect: These orders do not take effect immediately.
Next: We’ll see what happens.
Tariffs: Orders 14193, 19194 and 14195 would have increased import tariffs at the northern and southern borders and on goods coming from China.
Effect: Nothing yet on Canadian and Mexico tariffs but Chinese tariffs went into effect. It might take a while to see the impact.
Next: Pushback from the Canadian and Mexico governments put those tariffs on hold for now. The Chinese tariffs are going forward.
I am aware this list does not include every order. If I left one out that you think should be in here because it potentially has a broad human impact, please leave a note in the comments or message me directly.