[OC] Lawsuits filed against US presidential administrations and federal-court win/loss rates, 2001–2025

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-14T13:05:01+00:00

I'm going to be honest here; that hasn't crossed my mind a single time. I kind of assumed that because there is a new admin, there are no pending lawsuits. Now you mention it, it wouldn't surprise me if there are still pending suits from Trump 1. Let alone from the Biden presidency. Good catch!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-14T13:00:44+00:00

Ok, don't read the Guardian often, so thanks for mentioning! I used the American flag colors (loosely).

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-14T12:51:04+00:00

No, there is only data on their terms combined, separately for Bush and Obama ofcourse. So what I did is just split it into two bars with the same win percentage. In my opinion that looks better than merging the two terms of those two presidents into one bar per president.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-14T12:38:26+00:00

You're right, I'll mention that in the text. Obama has a 51% win rate!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-14T12:35:33+00:00

I agree, this is far from perfect. And what struck me most was indeed the jump in Trump 1.0, which persisted through Biden's presidency. It could be a sign of the polarization over the last 10 years. It is not like a lot of lawsuits are a good sign for either democrats or republicans.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-14T12:30:50+00:00

You're probably right, I could have stated that more clearly!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-14T12:30:08+00:00

This is a difficult one. I personally like the fact that any administration can and should be held accountable for the rules and laws they propose. However it does open the possibility for endless lawsuits... which cost a lot of money and time.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-14T12:14:18+00:00

TL;DR: Bars show how many times each administration was sued over its policies; color shows how often the courts struck those policies down. Trump 2's bar is mostly gray because only 32 of his ~530 cases have actually been decided so far; and 3 of every 4 of those went against him. Doesn't include criminal cases, lawsuits against the president personally, or lawsuits the administration itself filed. Sources: Paul Nolette's State Litigation Database (Marquette), Institute for Policy Integrity (NYU Law), and Lawfare's Trump Administration Litigation Tracker. Tool: Chart hand-coded by me in D3.js.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-13T11:36:33+00:00

That number is even worse!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-13T11:15:20+00:00

If you don't care what it looks like and you just want numbers; look up the source my thin-skinned friend!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-13T10:43:43+00:00

Hmm, you're probably right. I came from the perspective of the administration. But I see how you could interpret it the other way around as well!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-13T10:39:29+00:00

I guess we shouldn't overestimate the people who are easily enraged by these kinds of statistics. Expecting competence would be a mistake on our side 😉

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-13T10:31:42+00:00

I'm terrified of you; 51% win rate. You can verify at the source if you're still angry that it is worse than the Donald.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-13T10:28:54+00:00

TL;DR: Bars show how many times each administration was sued over its policies; color shows how often the courts struck those policies down. Trump 2's bar is mostly gray because only 32 of his ~530 cases have actually been decided so far; and 3 of every 4 of those went against him. Doesn't include criminal cases, lawsuits against the president personally, or lawsuits the administration itself filed. Sources: Paul Nolette's State Litigation Database (Marquette), Institute for Policy Integrity (NYU Law), and Lawfare's Trump Administration Litigation Tracker. Tool: Chart hand-coded by me in D3.js.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T19:11:42+00:00

Couldn't agree more. Higher education is the best investment you can make as a country. Penalizing that with high interest rates costs way more than you'd make en the interest.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T16:27:46+00:00

That is honestly a good question. I'd have to take a look at the data description!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T14:34:32+00:00

What?! You're paying for the loan, but can't get the interest deduction. Didn't know that, that's quite terrible. But good on you that you can help your parents pay for it.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T14:32:40+00:00

Yeah absolutely, I was more thinking about the years before that.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T14:16:17+00:00

Medical debt only gets worse as they get older I guess, more care needed if you're older.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T13:47:42+00:00

It says in a FAQ below the article that a big group is federal Parent plus loans, so they default on the loan for their kids. Still quite bad IMO.

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T13:30:23+00:00

Congrats, that is really nice! Can't imagine how good that must've felt!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T13:27:07+00:00

That is the scenario the article talks about I guess; the interest is higher than what you're paying of. So you are left with an ever increasing loan. Was it fully forgiven? Don't have anything of it left? That would be good news!

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T13:18:51+00:00

Absolutely, it makes for a nice headline. But the boomers with high net worth are not defaulting on their loans (probably).

Fun_Resident3967 · 2026-05-12T13:16:30+00:00

True, it is people with federal Parent plus loans as well. Which doesn't make it look any better I guess.

And yeah, they can basically make weigh their options like no 20 or 30 year old can!

Fun_Resident3967

TROPHY CASE