It's been a rough stretch for President Trump in the courtroom
This week alone held a string of defeats for the administration:
• A court voided the administration's efforts to choke off more than $2 billion in research funding to Harvard University.
• A judge declared Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles earlier this year to have been illegal.
• A court prevented Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants.
• A court ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commissioner that Trump sought to oust.
• A federal court rejected an appeal by the Trump administration to deny transgender and nonbinary Americans passports reflecting their gender identity.
• A judge ordered the Trump administration to release billions in foreign aid approved by Congress.
The Hill's Niall Stanage writes:
"Even if Trump challenges the decisions, which seems almost certain, the verdicts at the least have the capacity to disrupt his efforts to asset his power in ever more expansive ways."
The Harvard victory is particularly meaningful, The Hill's Lexi Lonas writes:
"The win comes at a pivotal time as multiple other colleges are in talks with the Trump administration to strike deals to restore funding and end federal investigations against their institutions. It is unclear if the judge's decision will end Harvard's own negotiations with Team Trump, but, if not, it will likely give the school the upper hand after the administration previously sought for the university to pay $500 million in a potential deal to both restore the funding and close down the federal probes."
MEANWHILE…
• Two California Democrats sit at the top of the presidential primary polls.
The latest Yahoo/YouGov survey finds Gov. Gavin Newsom in the lead at 21 percent support, followed by former Vice President Kamala Harris at 19 percent.
Rounding out the Democratic list is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) at 12 percent, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 10 percent, Illinois Gov. JB Prtizker at 7 percent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at 4 percent, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at 4 percent and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at 2 percent.
• New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former Democrat running for reelection as an independent, is considering dropping out of the race, according to the New York Times.
The Times reports that Adams met privately with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in Florida this week. Adams denied a report that he'd been offered a job at Housing and Urban Development.
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is the favorite to win the race in a crowded field of candidates, which currently includes Adams, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Trump has expressed an interest in winnowing the field of candidates so that one person can take Mamdani head-on.
"I'd prefer not to have a Communist mayor of New York City ...so I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one and I think that's a race that can be won," Trump said Thursday.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) endorsed Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), a third-term member of the House, giving her leg up in the race to replace retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
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