With Republicans holding the White House and both houses of Congress, the courts have become the primary entity for Democrats to use to oppose the Trump administration’s agenda.  House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has said litigation is a key weapon of Democrats’ response to Trump’s executive orders and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“We’ve seen a flood and an avalanche of outrageous executive actions that have been taken by the administration and by the current president, but that has also prompted a response of righteous litigation,” Jeffries said when asked how Democrats would oppose Trump’s policies.  Jeffries said the litigation strategy “will continue as we move forward.”

Ever hear of the Cloward-Piven Strategy (CPS)?  Designed in 1966 by Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, professors at Columbia University, it was initially aimed at the U.S. welfare system.  It was intended to overload the system to push for radical change by increasing the number of welfare recipients to the point where the government was forced to adopt new policies.

Its ultimate goal was and is to force change by overwhelming an existing system with demands, thereby forcing it to collapse and be replaced by a new system.  As Jason Olson said at AT, “although the theory [CPS] focused on welfare, it is increasingly evident that these principles have been applied in other systems.”  Olson’s emphasis was upon Biden’s open border policy.  The focus here is upon litigation targeted at Trump.

DOGE attracted lawsuits from Democrats and union groups literally within minutes of Trump’s inauguration.  They maintained that DOGE had gained access to sensitive information within several federal agencies as well as being unconstitutional. 

Jeffries said, “One of the things that will continue to be important is our partnership with lawyers and advocacy groups as part of the litigation strategy.”  The partnership has delivered so far: Trump’s administration has been involved in 49 lawsuits through his first 24 days in office.

As a result, Trump is saying his political adversaries are using the courts to hinder his ability to run the country.  According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, “we believe these judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law.”

Have Trump and his team been overwhelmed?  Not yet.  There are, however, literally thousands of far-left liberal lawyers and advocacy groups who, in the spirit of the CPS, will continue to file frivolous and absurd lawsuits until Trump et al. are overwhelmed.

Image via Picryl.