Donald Trump Has Been Sued More Than 50 Times Since Becoming President
President Donald Trump was known for being a litigious businessman, and now it seems that reputation will follow him to the presidency: he's been named in more than 50 lawsuits in just over two weeks.
Since the inauguration, Trump has been named in 52 federal cases in 17 different states as of Feb. 2, according to NBC News. This is a significantly higher number than his predecessors—President Obama was named in three lawsuits during the same time period.
The cases concern a range of issues from Trump's business entanglements to his executive actions on immigration. Here's a sampling:
San Francisco is suing him over sanctuary cities
WHO IS SUING: The City of San Francisco
WHY ARE THEY SUING: They claim that Trump’s executive order restricting federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants is unconstitutional.
WHAT = THEY SAID: "The president's executive order is not only unconstitutional, it's un-American. That's why we must stand up and oppose it,” said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the travel ban discriminates against Muslims
WHO IS SUING: The American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU has filed multiple lawsuits around the country with different plaintiffs who were affected by the travel ban, from two Iranian national University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth associate professors who were detained returning from an engineering conference, to an Iraqi man detained in New York who had been granted a visa to join his wife and young son already living as refugees in the United States.
WHY ARE THEY SUING: They say Trump's travel ban violates the religious freedom of nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries who were blocked from entering the United States.
WHAT THEY SAID: "President Trump's war on equality is already taking a terrible human toll," said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. "This ban cannot be allowed to continue.”
The Council on American Islamic Relations also says the travel ban discriminates against Muslims
WHO IS SUING: The Council on American Islamic Relations
WHY ARE THEY SUING: The group claims the president's travel ban is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds because it creates "favored and disfavored groups based on their faith."
WHAT HAVE THEY SAID: "The vulgar animosity that accounts for the existence of Executive Order entitled “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals” (hereinafter the “Muslim Exclusion Order”), issued the same day of this action, is plain to see, and the absence of the words Islam or Muslim does nothing to obscure it," the lawsuit reads.
A disabled Iraqi who worked for the U.S. army is suing over the travel ban
WHO IS SUING: Labeeb Ibrahim Issa, a former U.S. Army driver and general maintenance worker in Iraq
WHY ARE THEY SUING: Issa is arguing that Trump's travel ban violated his rights under the Constitution's Equal Protection clause. In 2016, he was seriously injured in a car crash that his lawsuit claims was a deliberate target on him as a result of his work for the Army. He applied for, and received, a Special Immigrant Visa which both required him to prove that he was experiencing an ongoing danger because of his work for the U.S. and required the United States to determine that he was not a security threat to the country. When the travel ban was issued, Issa was on a stop in Qatar and was initially told he would have to go back to Iraq. Once he arrived in Dallas, he was held by customs officials for 14 hours.
WHAT THEY SAID: "As a result of the attack that injured Mr. Issa, he has severely impaired circulation in one of his legs that may require amputation. These long, repetitive flights and series of delays can only have exceptionally exacerbated Mr. Issa’s pain—which he has repeatedly expressed," the lawsuit states. "Mr. Issa landed in Dallas hoping to find safety and freedom—perhaps only a small token of thanks from our country in exchange for his extreme sacrifice for our country in its war efforts in his home country."
A group of ethics experts wants him to stop accepting foreign government money at his hotels
WHO IS SUING: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog group composed of constitutional experts and lawyers
WHY ARE THEY SUING: The group alleges that Trump's businesses violate the Constitution's emoluments clause. The suit is asking a federal court in New York to order Trump to stop accepting payments from foreign government entities, which includes stays at his hotels and golf courses, and leases in his office buildings.
WHAT THEY SAID: “The framers of the Constitution were students of history,” said Deepak Gupta, one of the lawyers behind the suit, the New York Times reports. “And they understood that one way a republic could fail is if foreign powers could corrupt our elected leaders.”
Washington state wants to strike down the travel ban
WHO IS SUING: Washington State
WHY ARE THEY SUING: The state claims the travel ban violates the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
WHAT THEY SAID: "The President's Executive Order of January 27, 2017 ("the Executive Order"), is separating Washington families, harming thousands of Washington residents, damaging Washington's economy, hurting Washington-based companies, and undermining Washington's sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees," the complaint reads.