The conflict between President Donald Trump and a growing number of federal judges is escalating — but this time, it’s a trio of appellate judges imposing restrictions on the Trump administration. On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a partial stay of a lower court’s order, forcing the Trump administration to bring approximately 40,000 refugees into the country who had previously been accepted by the Biden administration. The court’s order is part of a case challenging the president’s executive order largely dismantling the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).

“Over the last 4 years, the United States has been inundated with record levels of migration, including through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP),” the president stated in his executive order. He continued:

“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees. This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

Pursuant to the president’s order, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio began cancelling contracts that the U.S. State Department had previously brokered with non-government organizations (NGOs). A number of NGOs filed a lawsuit challenging the president’s order and asking a federal court to prevent the government from cutting off funding to the NGOs. In an order issued Monday, Judge Jamal Whitehead of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, who was appointed by former president Joe Biden, barred the Trump administration from enforcing or enacting the executive order and demanded that all contracts with refugee-related NGOs be reinstated.

Circuit Court Judges Barry Silverman (appointed by former President Bill Clinton), Bridget Bade (appointed by Trump), and Ana de Alba (appointed by Biden) determined on Tuesday that the Trump administration could not be forced to continue administering USRAP contracts or barred from denying entry to refugees, citing the authority granted to the president by the Immigration and Nationality Act. However, the circuit court panel also ruled that the Trump administration must accept the approximately 40,000 refugees previously approved for entry to the U.S. by the Biden administration. The court’s brief order reasoned, “Executive Order No. 14163 does not purport to revoke the refugee status of individuals who received that status under the United States Refugee Admissions Program prior to January 20, 2025.”

This is the latest in a series of orders by mostly district courts curbing the president’s policies and halting his executive orders and actions. Thus far, at least 15 nationwide injunctions have been imposed on the Trump administration by district court judges, the majority of whom were appointed by Democrats. Some of the more recent examples of courts restricting the president’s agenda include orders preventing deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, demanding that biological men identifying as transgender be housed in women’s prisons, and blocking efforts to bar transgender-identifying individuals from enlisting in the U.S. military, among others. As The Washington Stand previously reported, congressional Republicans are preparing legislation to block district courts from issuing nationwide injunctions.