On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump began his term with presidential actions including 26 executive orders, with more expected to follow. Just Security is covering key developments, including in concise “What Just Happened” expert explainers, legal and policy analysis, and more.
Originally published Jan. 21, 2025, and frequently updated.
Table of Contents
A. Resources
B. “What Just Happened” Series
C. Analysis and Perspectives
D. “What Just Happened” Podcast Series
A. Resources
- Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
- Ryan Goodman and Audrey Balliette, Timeline: Politicization and Weaponization of Justice Department in Second Trump Administration
B. “What Just Happened” Series
- Mark Nevitt, Trump, the National Guard, and the District of Columbia: What You Need to Know (Aug. 18, 2025)
- Kathleen Claussen, What Just Happened: The Tariff Litigation Advances (June 4, 2025)
- Chiraag Bains, What Just Happened: The Trump Administration’s Dismissal of Voting Rights Lawsuits (May 27, 2025)
- Dani Schulkin, Tess Bridgeman and Andrew Miller, What Just Happened: The Trump Administration’s Reorganization of the State Department – and How We Got Here (April 22, 2025)
- Stefanie Feldman, What Just Happened: The Trump Administration Repealed Zero Tolerance Policy for Rogue Gun Dealers (April 15, 2025)
- Kathleen Claussen, What Just Happened: The Trump Administration’s Latest Moves on Tariffs (April 3, 2025)
- Ahilan Arulanantham and Adam Cox, Explainer on First Amendment and Other Legal Issues in Deportation of Pro-Palestinian Student Activist(s) (March 12, 2025)
- Brett Holmgren, What Just Happened: Security and Foreign Policy Implications of Pausing Intelligence Sharing with Ukraine (March 6, 2025)
- Nicholas Bednar, What Just Happened: Musk-OPM Send Email to Federal Employees Asking for Five Accomplishments (Feb. 22, 2025)
- Roderick M. Hills, What Just Happened: Purges at the DOJ and FBI – How Do and Don’t the Civil Service Laws Apply (Feb. 14, 2025)
- Alex Finley, What Just Happened: Security Implications of Trump’s Efforts to Trim the CIA Workforce (Feb. 7, 2025)
- Jonathan Hafetz and Rebecca Ingber, What Just Happened: At Guantanamo’s Migrant Operation Center (Feb. 6, 2025)
- Kathleen Claussen, What Just Happened: New Tariffs on Products from Mexico, Canada, and China (Feb. 5, 2025)
- Tess Bridgeman, What May Be About to Happen: Can the President Dissolve USAID by Executive Order? (Feb. 1, 2025)
- Brad Brooks-Rubin, What Just Happened: Trump’s Termination of West Bank Settler Sanctions (Jan. 30, 2025)
- William Banks, What Just Happened: The Framing of a Migration “Invasion” and the Use of Military Authorities (Jan. 29, 2025)
- Ilya Somin, What Just Happened: The “Invasion” Executive Order and Its Dangerous Implications (Jan. 28, 2025)
- Tom Ellison, What Just Happened: Trump’s Executive Actions on Environment and Implications for US Climate Security (Jan. 24, 2025)
- Ahilan Arulanantham, What Just Happened: Sanctuary Policies and the DOJ Memo’s Empty Threat of Criminal Liability (Jan. 23, 2025)
- Andrew Weissmann, What Just Happened: What Trump’s Hobbling Privacy Oversight Board Portends for Exercise of Surveillance Powers (Jan. 22, 2025)
- Justin Hendrix, What Just Happened: Trump’s Announcement of the Stargate AI Infrastructure Project (Jan. 22, 2025)
- Tom Joscelyn, What Just Happened: Trump’s January 6 Pardons and Assaults on Law Enforcement Officers By The Numbers (Jan. 22, 2025)
- Mark Nevitt, What Just Happened: Unpacking Exec Order on National Emergency at the Southern Border (Jan. 21, 2025)
- Tess Bridgeman and Rebecca Hamilton, What Just Happened: With ICC Sanctions (Jan. 21, 2025)
- Sue Biniaz, What Just Happened: Withdrawing from Paris and other International Environmental Agreement Actions (Jan. 21, 2025)
C. Analysis and Perspectives
- Michael Angeloni and Beau Tremitiere, A Year Later: The Stakes of Ordering Military Personnel to Police American Streets (June 8, 2026)
- Regan Rush and Megan Marks, Separating Fact from Fiction in FACE Act Enforcement (April 14, 2026)
- Reed Shaw, The Trump Administration’s Fraud Problem (April 14, 2026)
- Chris Hardee, The Unconstitutionality of the Trump Administration’s New Executive Order on Elections (April 3, 2026)
- Ari Shaw and Laurel Sprague, How Trump’s New Global Gag Rules Will Undermine US Interests Abroad (March 13, 2026)
- Kate Welty and Max Sarinsky, The Trump Administration’s Deregulatory Playbook (Jan. 30, 2026)
- Elizabeth Goitein, Trump v. Illinois: A Narrow Supreme Court Decision with Broad Implications (Jan. 9, 2026)
- Harold Hongju Koh, Bruce Swartz, Madeline Babin, Saavni Desai, Samantha Kiernan, Ananya Agustin Malhotra, Pete Nelson, Jake Reagan, Summia Tora and Julian Watrous, A SCOTUS Bench Memo for the Trump Tariff Case: Separation of Powers, Delegation, Emergencies, and Pretext (Nov. 3, 2025)
- Kelsey Merrick, The Use of Tariffs to Raise Revenue is a Choice for Congress, not the President (Nov. 3, 2025)
- Thomas E. Brzozowski, How Designating Antifa as a Foreign Terrorist Organization Could Threaten Civil Liberties (Oct. 27, 2025)
- Cathy Buerger, Repression as Rescue: The Authoritarian Logic of Trump’s Early Executive Orders (Sept. 25, 2025)
- Himamauli Das, Rethinking IEEPA Accountability and Oversight (Sept. 18, 2025)
- Conner Bender, America’s Missile Shield Raises Legal and Cybersecurity Concerns (Aug. 27, 2025)
- Devika Hovell, Raising the Cost of U.S. Coercion Against the ICC (Aug. 26, 2025)
- Jordan Ascher, The APA Authorizes “Universal” Stays of Agency Action Under 5 U.S.C. § 705 (Aug. 22, 2025)
- Andrew Miller and Kelly L. Razzouk, Save the PMF Program or Risk Losing a Generation of Public Servants (Aug. 1, 2025)
- Michael Schiffer, Congress Shrinking from the World: the Constitution’s Article I in the Shadow of Trump 2.0 (July 23, 2025)
- Ryan Goodman, Understanding DHS’s and ICE’s New Powers in Comparative Perspective (July 21, 2025)
- Samuel Estreicher and Andrew Babbitt, Court of International Trade’s Flawed Ruling in Striking Down Trump’s Tariffs (July 14, 2025)
- Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, The Trump Administration’s Multi-Front Assault on Federal Research Funding (July 9, 2025)
- Bruce Swartz, Will to Resist: What Dartmouth Teaches Harvard About Protecting American Freedom (July 7, 2025)
- John Lewis and Jordan Ascher, Pathways to “Universal” Relief after Trump v. CASA (July 3, 2025)
- Harold Hongju Koh, Alan Charles Raul and Fred Halbhuber, After CASA: The Administrative Procedure Act Option for Challenging the Birthright Citizenship and Other Illegal Executive Actions (June 30, 2025)
- Rebecca Hamilton, The Trump Administration’s Use of State Power: Keeping Track of the Big Picture (updated June 30, 2025)
- Ilya Somin, Nondelegation and Major Questions Doctrines Can Constrain Power Grabs by Presidents of Both Parties (June 26, 2025)
- Elizabeth Goitein, Federal Troops in Drug Raids Outside of Los Angeles: An Alarming Escalation (June 25, 2025)
- Ryan Goodman and Steve Vladeck, The Posse Comitatus Act Meets the President’s “Protective Powers”: What’s Next in Newsom v. Trump (June 20, 2025)
- Adam Grogg and John Lewis, The Legal Defects in the Trump Administration’s Attempts to Deregulate Without Notice and Comment (June 17, 2025)
- Rachel Levinson-Waldman and Melanie Geller, How DHS’s New Social Media Vetting Policies Threaten Free Speech (June 17, 2025)
- Scott Busby and Charles O. (Cob) Blaha, How the Proposed State Department Reorganization Guts U.S. Human Rights Diplomacy (June 6, 2025)
- Cathy Buerger, Unequal Before the Law: How Trump’s Death Penalty Order Codifies Dangerous Speech (June 6, 2025)
- Suzanne Summerlin, Too Big to Be Lawful: A Federal Court Halts Mass Layoffs Across the Civil Service (June 3, 2025)
- Kristin A. Collins, Gerald Neuman and Rachel E. Rosenbloom, Another Reason Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order is Unlawful (May 15, 2025)
- Mark Nevitt, The New “National Defense Area” at the Southern Border: What You Need to Know (April 29, 2025)
- Harold Hongju Koh, Fred Halbhuber and Inbar Pe’er, No, the President Cannot Enforce the Law-Firm Deals (April 28, 2025)
- Paul M. Barrett, Justice Department Fails to Address Central Point in VOA Case (April 24, 2025)
- Ahilan Arulanantham, Deportation to CECOT: The Constitutional Prohibition on Punishment Without Charge or Trial (April 23, 2025)
- Aadhithi Padmanabhan, The Fox TV Problem with Deporting International Students (April 21, 2025)
- John Mikhail, Birthright Citizenship and DOJ’s Misuse of History in Its Appellate Briefs (April 18, 2025)
- Paul M. Barrett, Unpacking the Voice of America Litigation (April 10, 2025)
- Harold Hongju Koh, Fred Halbhuber and Inbar Pe’er, No, the President Cannot Issue Bills of Attainder (April 9, 2025)
- Francisco Bencosme and Michael Schiffer, America’s Absence in Myanmar’s Early Earthquake Response: A Moral and Strategic Failure (April 4, 2025)
- Marty Lederman, Remarkable Things in the Government’s Alien Enemies Act Briefs to the Supreme Court (April 3, 2025)
- Stephanie Psaki and Beth Cameron, Dropping U.S. Biodefenses: Why Cuts to Federal Health Agencies Make Americans Less Safe (April 3, 2025)
- Edgar Chen and Chris M. Kwok, The Trump Administration’s 14th Amendment Retcon: ‘Wong Kim Ark’ Does Not Limit Birthright Citizenship (March 28, 2025)
- Mary B. McCord, Dissecting the Trump Administration’s Strategy for Defying Court Orders (March 25, 2025)
- Rebecca Hamilton, The Imperative of Solidarity in Response to Assaults on Legal Services, Universities, and Independent Media (March 24, 2025)
- Andrew Weissmann, The New “Blacklists” Work When Law Firms Stay Silent (March 24, 2025)
- Katherine Yon Ebright, The Courts Can Stop Abuse of the Alien Enemies Act – The Political Question Doctrine is No Bar (March 20, 2025)
- Rebecca Ingber and Scott Roehm, The Trump Administration’s Recent Removals to El Salvador Violate the Prohibition on Transfer to Torture (March 20, 2025)
- Mark Pomar, Trump Move to Eliminate VOA, RFE/RL Ignores Lessons of Global Power (March 20, 2025)
- Jean Garner, Journalists Who Took Risks for US-Funded Broadcasters Threatened Anew by Trump Shutdown (March 18, 2025)
- Ambassador Daniel Fried, The US Government’s Self-Harm in Killing Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (March 17, 2025)
- Faiza Patel, U.S. AI-Driven “Catch and Revoke” Initiative Threatens First Amendment Rights (March 18, 2025)
- Steve Vladeck, 5 Big Questions in the Alien Enemies Act Litigation (March 16, 2025)
- Noor Hamadeh and David McKean, Suspension of FCPA Enforcement Is Bad for U.S. and Global Business (March 13, 2025)
- Brian O’Neill, The President’s Declassification Power is a Double-Edged Sword (Feb. 28, 2025)
- Michael Schiffer and Anka Lee, Trump’s China Tariff Now Treats Hong Kong the Same as the Mainland, a First in US Policy (Feb. 27, 2025)
- Bill Frelick, The Racial Twist in Trump’s Cutoff of Refugee Admissions (Feb. 27, 2025)
- Daniel Jacobson, The Trump Administration Cannot Use Award Terms and Conditions to Impound Funds (Feb. 24, 2025)
- Mark Nevitt, How the Pentagon Personnel Firings Threaten Our Apolitical Military (Feb. 24, 2025)
- Brian Finucane, U.S. Military Action in Mexico: Almost Certainly Illegal, Definitely Counterproductive (Feb. 20, 2025)
- Tobias Barrington Wolff, The Attempt to Purge Trans Members from the Armed Services (Feb. 19, 2025)
- Elizabeth Goitein and Katherine Yon Ebright, Trump’s Doubly Flawed “Invasion” Theory (Feb. 19, 2025)
- Seth Binder, Sheridan Cole, and Haydn Welch, The Disastrous Costs of the Foreign Foreign Aid Freeze on US Interests in the Middle East and North Africa (Feb. 14, 2025)
- Laura Booth, Can the President Dismantle the Department of Education by Executive Order? (Feb. 14, 2025)
- Scott Busby, Freezing Support to Democracy and Human Rights Activists Undermines US Interests (Feb. 13, 2025)
- Laura Thornton, Supporting Freedom and a Foreign Aid Freeze are Incompatible – But Perhaps the Point? A Case Study (Feb. 13, 2025)
- Donell Harvin, The Need for Course Correction: The Risks of Treating Drug Cartels as Terrorist Threats (Feb. 12, 2025)
- Winona Xu, As Sexual Violence Surges in Goma, US Aid Remains Crucial (Feb. 12, 2025)
- 16 US Human Rights Experts, Current and Former Members of UN Bodies, “The Trump Administration’s Attacks on International Law and Institutions”: Public Statement of American Human Rights Experts, Current and Former Members of UN Bodies (Feb. 10, 2025)
- Simon Lomax, Greg Clough, Morgan Bazilian, Restarting US LNG Permitting Brings Geopolitical Benefits and the Potential for Climate Progress (Feb. 10, 2025)
- Rebecca Hamilton, Connecting the Dots: Trump’s Tightening Grip on Press Freedom (Feb. 6, 2025)
- Rachel Levinson-Waldman, The Dangerous Sweep of Trump’s Plan to Designate Cartels as Terrorist Organizations (Feb. 5, 2025)
- Marty Lederman, The Most Indefensible Aspects of DOJ’s Briefs in the Birthright Citizenship Cases (Feb. 4, 2025)
- Suzanne Summerlin, Federal Employee Rights: What Probationary Employees Need to Know (Jan. 31, 2025)
- Faiza Patel, Trump’s Executive Order on Foreign Terrorists: Implications for the Rights of Non-Citizens (Jan. 31, 2025)
- Sara Zdeb, The Real Reason Trump’s Purge of Career DOJ Officials Should Alarm You (Jan. 30, 2025)
- Suzanne Summerlin, Beware the “Deferred Resignation” Offer: A Legally Dubious Proposal for Federal Employees (Jan. 29, 2025)
- Stuart Gerson, Understanding Trump’s Choice for FBI Leadership in Light of the “Weaponization of the Federal Government” Executive Order (Jan. 29, 2025)
- Adam Cox and Trevor Morrison, Trump’s Dictatorial Theory of Presidential Power – What the Executive Orders, in the Aggregate, Tell Us (Jan. 28, 2025)
- Ambassador Donald Steinberg, `Elections Have Consequences’: Trump and Rubio’s Foreign Aid Halt Will Hit the World’s Most Vulnerable (Jan. 28, 2025)
- Dafna H. Rand, Stopped Security Assistance: From Counter-Narcotics to Combating Human Trafficking Programs (Jan. 28, 2025)
- Andrew Weissman, Why has the Trump Justice Department Not Moved to Dismiss the Case Against Trump’s Co-Defendants in the FLA Classified Documents Case? (Jan. 28, 2025)
- Michael Schiffer, Stop-Work Order on US Foreign Aid Puts China First and America Last (Jan. 27, 2025)
- Ambassador (Ret.) Dennis Jett, Deprofessionalizing the State Department Is a Threat to National Security (Jan. 24, 2025)
- Jean Galbraith, The Legal Problem with Trump’s WHO Order: The US Cannot Withdraw Until It Pays Its Dues (Jan. 23, 2025)
- Alex Abdo, A Free Speech View on the “Free Speech” Executive Order (Jan. 21, 2025)
- Xiangnong (George) Wang, President Trump’s Attempt to “Save” TikTok is a Power-Grab that Subverts Free Speech (Jan. 21, 2025)
D. “What Just Happened” Podcast Series
- David Aaron, Brian Netter and Mark Nevitt, Federalization of DC Law Enforcement, Legal Authorities and Updates (Aug. 20, 2025)
- David Aaron, Carrie Cordero and Donell Harvin, Federalization of Law Enforcement in Washington DC (Aug. 14, 2025)
- David Aaron and Steven Cash, The Budget Bill and the Future of DHS and ICE (July 18, 2025)
- Chiraag Bains, Dani Schulkin and Maya Nir, Dismissal of Voting Rights Lawsuits (June 2, 2025)
- Ambassador Daniel Fried, Dafna H. Rand, Michael Schiffer, Michael Hanna, Rachel Goldbrenner and Maya Nir What’s Next for U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Assistance (May 19, 2025)
- Ryan Goodman, Tom Joscelyn, Mary B. McCord, Paras Shah and Clara Apt, Politicization and Weaponization of the Justice Department in the Second Trump Administration (March 6, 2025)
- David Aaron, Kevin Carroll, Paras Shah and Clara Apt, CIA Officers’ Lawsuit at Intersection of DEI and National Security (March 4, 2025)
- David Aaron, Tess Bridgeman and Suzanne Summerlin, Understanding Federal Employee Rights (Feb. 18, 2025)
- David Aaron, Tess Bridgeman, Ryan Goodman and Mark Nevitt, Potential U.S. Military Domestic Deployment for Immigration Enforcement (Jan. 28, 2025)
- Steve Vladeck, David Aaron, Tess Bridgeman and Ryan Goodman, Trump’s Immigration Executive Orders (Jan. 22, 2025)
IMAGE: President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
FEATURED IMAGE: President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
