Trump Suffers Two Brutal Court Losses in Less Than 24 Hours |
Trump Suffers Two Brutal Court Losses in Less Than 24 Hours
The courts have delivered major blows to two of Trump’s signature policies: tariffs and the “anti-woke” crusade.
President Trump suffered two resounding legal losses on Thursday, as two separate federal judges decided that his 10 percent global tariff and DOGE’s anti-woke grant terminations were unlawful.
In a 2–1 decision, the Court of International Trade determined the president’s global tariff—announced in February after the Supreme Court rejected his “Liberation Day” tariffs—is unlawful due to his misrepresenting Section 122 of the Trade Act. Trump tried to claim that the phrase “balance-of-payments deficits” in the law is the same as a “trade deficit.” It is not, the court ruled.
“It is clear that Congress was aware of the differences in the words it chose,” the majority opinion explained. “The Government argues that in today’s world, the current account is the proper component for identifying a balance-of-payments deficit.… Problematically for the Government, and as discussed herein, Congress in 1974 identified the settlement, liquidity, and basic balance deficits as ‘balance-of-payments deficits.’”
It is unclear what the next steps are, although the tariffs were set to expire near the end of July.
Trump’s second loss came as a federal judge stated what we all already knew—that Elon Musk’s DOGE “blatantly used” race, gender, sexuality, and other markers to decide which grants and opportunities to kill.
“Treating Black civil-rights history, Jewish testimony about the Holocaust, the oft-forgotten Asian American experience, the shameful treatment of the children of Native tribes, or the mere mention of a woman as a marker of lack of merit or wastefulness is not lawful,” U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon wrote. The decision is a win for nonprofit organizations that had been under threat of or had already lost funding due to the DOGE cuts.
Trump has yet to comment on his legal defeats.
WTF Happened With Trump’s Meeting With Brazilian President?
Donald Trump and Lula were supposed to have a public meeting. Instead, we got three hours of radio silence.
Donald Trump was scheduled to meet Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva—usually referred to as Lula—at 11:15 a.m. Thursday in front of the press.
That did not happen, and for three hours, media members stood around wondering where the hell the two leaders of the largest countries in the Western Hemisphere were.
At 2 p.m., NewsNation reported that Lula had left the White House after meeting with Trump for about two hours. “This was a meeting that was supposed to be opened up,” host Nichole Berlie said. “But that did not happen.... We’ll have to see what the White House says.”
NewsNation reporter Kellie Meyer, stationed outside the White House, said it may have been Lula who was responsible for the secrecy.
“The president of Brazil said he wanted to wait until after the two met to then meet with the press in front of the cameras,” Meyer said. “They had lunch, and now we learn that he is leaving. He will speak to the press at the embassy, but he won’t be doing it here alongside President Trump. We do know that the two didn’t quite see eye to eye coming into this meeting, so maybe it is no surprise that they may not be going in front of the cameras.”
Lula is a leftist, and he and Trump have had an unsurprisingly contentious relationship over the years. Trump has repeatedly expressed support for Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing former Brazilian president who was convicted of planning a coup in order to remain in power.
In July 2025, Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Brazil in order to pressure Lula’s administration to drop the charges against Bolsonaro. Lula stuck to his guns, however, and Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September. The Supreme Court deemed American tariffs against Brazil (and everywhere else, for that matter) unconstitutional in February.
Shortly after Trump implemented the tariffs, Lula decried the weakening American democracy during his address to the U.N. General Assembly.
The drama’s not over, though: Bolsonaro’s son Flavio is running for president this year, and will look to free his fascistic father if he wins. Lula is also running for a second term, despite being 80 years old.
While Trump and his team are often late to their scheduled White House events, having the meeting behind closed doors after telling the press it would be open is significantly stranger.
After an afternoon of silence, Trump released a vague and surprisingly short statement on Truth Social at 2:22 p.m.: “Just concluded my meeting with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the very dynamic President of Brazil. We discussed many topics, including Trade and, specifically, Tariffs. The meeting went very well. Our Representatives are scheduled to get together to discuss certain key elements. Additional meetings will be scheduled over the coming months, as necessary.”
Earlier reports suggested the meeting would be focused on organized crime groups in Latin America. Speaking to reporters in Portuguese at the Brazilian Embassy, Lula said the two men had discussed organized crime, critical minerals, and trade. Lula also said he jokingly told Trump not to reject the visas of any of Brazil’s soccer players before this summer’s World Cup, and that Trump laughed.
Trump Will Revoke Passports for Parents Who Owe Child Support
The State Department plans to revoke the passports of Americans who owe child support. Meanwhile, Republicans are pushing for strict laws where a passport would be necessary.
The State Department plans to start revoking U.S. passports from anyone who owes more than $100,000 in child support, as Republicans nationwide push stringent voter ID laws.
The Associated Press reports that the revocations could begin as early as Friday and would apply to about 2,700 passport holders. The AP first reported about the plan in February. The........