The administration continues to advance its agenda via executive orders amid confusion around rollbacks and rescissions.

This week, the Trump administration continued to sign several new executive orders imposing and rolling back new tariffs, and establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve, among others. President Trump also addressed a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025, for the first time since retaking office. In his speech, the president highlighted the executive orders he has issued and outlined his vision for how Congress should begin implementing the administration’s agenda.

Latham lawyers are carefully monitoring the rollout of President Trump’s policy priorities through executive orders, agency actions, and installment of new personnel. Below is a high-level overview of these actions from the past week, broken down by topic, along with updates on related court challenges, personnel changes, and other breaking developments in their implementation.

Securities Regulations and Enforcement

On March 3, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its expansion of accommodations available for issuers that submit draft registration statements for nonpublic review. SEC Staff will now allow issuers to make confidential draft submissions for all follow-on offerings, shelf offerings, and M&A, enhancing flexibility. The move follows a February 24, 2025, speech by SEC Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda in which he stated his first priority is for the Commission to “return[] to its narrow mission to facilitate capital formation, while protecting investors and maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets.” For more detailed information on the implications of this announcement, see this blog post.

Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency

On March 6, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve. The reserve will be funded exclusively with bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. Additionally, the order establishes a US Digital Asset Stockpile, managed by the Treasury Department, to hold other confiscated cryptocurrencies.

Trade Policy and Tariffs

A pair of executive orders issued on March 1, 2025, aim to promote domestic production of wood products. The first executive order announced the initiation of an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to examine the impact of wood product imports on national security. The order emphasizes that the military spends over $10 billion on construction and innovative building material technology, making the procurement of building materials critical to both civilian and military needs. The second executive order directs various agencies to conduct a review of federal policies that are believed to have prevented the full utilization of domestic timber resources and created a reliance on imports.

Tariffs on China (and Hong Kong) remain in place as President Trump issued an amendment on March 3, 2025, to the executive order that imposed a 10% tariff on all imports, changing the tariff rate to 20%. The tariff increase applies to products that are entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on and after March 4.

On March 6, 2025, President Trump signed two executive orders suspending new tariffs on many imports from Mexico and Canada until April 2. The orders came two days after increased tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico went into effect.

On March 7, 2025, President Trump announced on social media that he is “strongly considering” imposing sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a peace agreement is reached in the war in Ukraine. Latham will continue to monitor developments.

For more detailed information on these executive orders and these countries’ responses, see this blog post.

Immigration

On March 6, 2025, the Trump administration announced its plans to decide soon whether to revoke temporary legal status for approximately 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia. The planned rollback of protections would be part of a broader Trump administration effort to revoke legal status from more than 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the US under temporary humanitarian parole programs.

Status of Challenges

The January 29, 2025, executive order transferring migrants to Guantanamo is being challenged in federal district court by ten noncitizens in immigration custody. The suit filed on March 1, 2025, seeks a declaratory judgment that transfer to and detention in Guantanamo is unlawful and unconstitutional; that the memorandum be vacated; a grant of a writ of habeas corpus; and an injunction on future transfers. The plaintiffs also filed an emergency motion to stay transfer.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

On March 3, 2025, a federal court in Maryland denied the Trump administration’s request to stay or narrow a nationwide preliminary injunction that blocks enforcement of certain aspects of executive orders aimed at ending DEI programs in both the public and private sector. For more detailed information, see this blog post.

Status of Other Challenges

On March 3, 2025,  a lawsuit was filed alleging that President Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive order (“Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing”) is unconstitutionally vague and that the termination of grants constitutes an arbitrary and capricious decision in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. Plaintiffs seek declaratory relief and an injunction ordering reinstatement of grant funds. The petitioners also submitted a motion for a temporary restraining order.

On March 6, 2025, four arts nonprofit corporations filed a lawsuit alleging that President Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive order (“Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”) violates the First and Fifth Amendments by imposing a vague and viewpoint-based restriction on artists’ speech. The petitioners request that the court declare the “gender ideology” prohibition unlawful and enjoin its application.

Healthcare

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a policy statement on March 3, 2025, titled “Policy on Adhering to the Text of the Administrative Procedure Act.” The policy statement rescinds a 1971 policy statement that directed HHS and its subagencies to engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking even in circumstances exempt from the requirement for notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act. For more detailed information on the implications of this statement, see this blog post.

Status of Challenges

On February 7, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a notice of updated policy that would significantly reduce the amount of funding that research institutions and universities can receive under the terms of their federal grants with the NIH, which we discuss in greater detail in this blog post. In response, three lawsuits were filed by 22 state attorneys general and others. On February 10, 2025, a judge from the US District Court of Massachusetts granted the request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and granted a TRO in another similar case. On March 5, 2025, the same judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting implementation of the NIH Guidance “in any form with respect to institutions nationwide.”

Federal Workforce

This week, federal employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) received notices to return to work. Emails went out March 4, 2025, to some CDC probationary employees rescinding their termination notices received last month. An independent federal board, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), issued a stay, ordering the USDA to temporarily reinstate close to 6,000 employees for 45 days while an investigation continues.

Federal Spending

Status of Challenges

On January 20, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order including a 90-day pause in “foreign development assistance,” and the Secretary of State then issued stop-work orders for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) foreign assistance grants. In response, actions were brought for declaratory and injunctive relief to stop the implementation of the executive order and the stop-work order on February 10, 2025. On February 13, 2025, the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted a TRO enjoining the government from enforcing directives pausing disbursements of foreign development assistance funds. On February 25, 2025, the district court ordered the government to issue payments for a portion of the paused disbursements. On February 26, 2025, the government filed an application with the US Supreme Court to vacate the district court’s TRO. On March 5, 2025, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s bid not to pay USAID contractors in a 5-4 decision.

In a case challenging the Office of Management and Budget order that instructed government agencies to pause all federal assistance funding while the administration reviewed whether such spending was in conflict with President Trump’s executive orders, US District Judge John McConnell Jr. issued a ruling. The March 6, 2025, ruling prohibited the Trump administration from freezing or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds to state governments. This preliminary injunction is the second by a federal court blocking the spending freeze.

On March 5, 2025, four nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit alleging that they are harmed by the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) cutting of federal funding and firing of federal employees, including in the work of the National Park Service and historic sites.

Key Appointments and Personnel Moves

On March 3, 2025, the Senate confirmed Linda E. McMahon as Secretary of the Department of Education.

On March 5, 2025, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice.

On March 6, 2025, the Senate confirmed Troy Edgar as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Hearings have been held, but confirmations have not been secured for dozens of other officials.