Friday was a slightly less eventful day in the courts (compared with Thursday), but there were still some rulings of note. I made a point to tweet them out as I encountered them — I thought that might make it a little easier to keep track of them. We’ll give that a try and see how that works.
This first one technically rolled in late Thursday, but after I’d already published the Evening Docket, so we’ll include it here. And it features a familiar (to many) name: Judge Tanya Chutkan of the D.C. District Court:
⚖️ NEW: Judge Tanya Chutkan (D.C.) grants (in part) TRO in case of Sultan v. Trump – to return SEVIS record to active and prevent it from being modified due to 4/23/25 arrest at OSU for participating in SJP protest demanding divestiture from Israel.https://t.co/F8XuUy2Fu7
— Susie Moore ⚾️🌻🐶 (@SmoosieQ) April 25, 2025
- In the case of Sultan v. Trump (challenging visa revocation), Judge Chutkan granted plaintiff Ahwar Sultan’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) — in part — “insofar that it seeks his SEVIS record be returned to “Active” as of April 3, 2025, and that Defendants be enjoined from modifying Sultan’s SEVIS record based on his April 23, 2024, arrest at OSU.” (SEVIS stands for Student and Exchange Visitor Information System record.”
In an interesting/related turn of events, the Trump administration apparently changed things up and opted to restore SEVIS records on Friday. Kyle Cheney has a decent explainer here:
NEWS: After canceling thousands of foreign students’ immigration records — threatening their ability to study and live in the US — the Trump administration has reversed course and restored them all.
It follows intense pushback from courts across the country.
Details TK
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 25, 2025
Next up, an actual win for the Trump administration:
⚖️ NEW: Judge Dana Christensen (Montana) grants Trump administration’s motion to transfer case challenging tariffs (Webber v. DHS) to Court of International Trade.https://t.co/bq8MmU0RJQ
— Susie Moore ⚾️🌻🐶 (@SmoosieQ) April 25, 2025
- In the case of Webber v. DHS (challenging tariffs), Judge Dana Christensen (Montana) granted the Trump administration’s motion to transfer the case to the Court of International Trade. And the plaintiffs promptly turned around and appealed it to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Next, there was a completely unsurprising pair of rulings out of the D.C. District Court:
⚖️ NEW: As he did in the Abramowitz and Widakuswara cases, Judge Royce Lamberth (D.C.) enters order granting preliminary injunction in Radio Free Asia v. US and Middle East Broadcasting Networks v. US (enjoining admin. from terminating grants).https://t.co/xpN2oWB5Lw
— Susie Moore ⚾️🌻🐶 (@SmoosieQ) April 25, 2025
- As he did in the Abramowitz and Wikakuswara cases on Tuesday, Judge Royce Lamberth entered an order granting a preliminary injunction in the Radio Free Asia v. U.S. and Middle East Broadcasting Networks v. U.S. (enjoining the administration from terminating grants).
And…yet another ruling out of the D.C. District Court:
⚖️ NEW: Judge Paul Friedman (D.C.) enters order granting preliminary injunction in case seeking to enjoin admin.’s rescission of collective bargaining agreements (Natl. Treasury Employees Union v. Trump).https://t.co/5riYxdr9mH
— Susie Moore ⚾️🌻🐶 (@SmoosieQ) April 25, 2025
- Judge Paul Friedman granted a preliminary injunction in the case of National Treasury Employees Union v. Trump, enjoining the administration’s rescission of collective bargaining agreements.
RELATED: Here We Go Again, Judge
Coequal Branches? It’s Time for Trump to Stick It to the Judiciary
So what did we get in the way of new filings on Friday?
- Stein v. Dept. of Defense (regarding FOIA request to DOD regarding “all messages in the Signal account used by Pete Hegseth to participate in [the “Houthi PC small group” chat] group sent in the last three months as of the date of your first search for responsive records”)
- V.M.L. v. Harper (petition for habeas corpus (involving a 2-year-old girl (U.S. citizen), whose mother (illegal alien) reportedly was deported to Honduras — this one’s hitting the news cycle now)
- State of New York v. Dept. of Education (challenging certification requirement)
You can check out prior installments of The Evening Docket series here.
