Trump Suffers His Fourth—and Worst—Legal Blow in Just Hours
April 1, 2026
The New Republic
President Trump has been dealt his fourth legal loss in less than 24 hours, as the federal judiciary rebukes his various abuses of presidential powers. On Tuesday evening, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected Trump’s claim of presidential immunity regarding his actions on January 6, ruling that he can be held liable for the violence that day. Mehta decided that Trump’s speech to his supporters at the Ellipse and his communications with other officials can all be considered campaign activity.
The ruling allows a lawsuit from police officers and Democratic politicians to continue—and opens the door to other lawsuits to similar lawsuits. It’s a brutal blow for the president, who suffered three other losses just hours earlier. Also on Tuesday, Judge Timothy Kelly allowed a lawsuit to continue against Health and Human Services as they are alleged to have illegally closed its Freedom of Information Act offices. And U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled that President Trump’s executive order last May ending federal funding for NPR and PBS was illegal, writing that the First Amendment “does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type.” And again on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon temporarily blocked President Trump’s 400 million White House ballroom construction after a lawsuit from the National Trust for Historic Preservation—which argues that Trump acted beyond his authority when he demolished the East Wing to build said ballroom.March was a rough month for President Trump, as his plummeting approval rating caused by his war on Iran and immigration crackdown show. These consecutive legal losses won’t help either. While the judiciary has certainly been pushed around by the Trump administration for years, small district-level victories like these remind us of the power in basic checks and balances.
The New Republic
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