Nine months into Donald Trump’s second term, the United States is experiencing a profound transformation across its judiciary, civil rights landscape, and federal policy apparatus. According to reporting from Lambda Legal and The Guardian, the administration’s actions have reverberated from courtrooms to city streets, and from the nation’s protected wildlands to the lives of LGBTQ+ Americans and immigrants.
At the heart of the current upheaval is the federal judiciary. As of October 2025, seventeen new federal judicial nominees have been confirmed under Trump’s renewed presidency. Many of these judges possess records that LGBTQ+ advocates and civil rights organizations describe as openly hostile to civil liberties. Notably, a significant number have refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling, Obergefell v. Hodges, and have demonstrated pronounced anti-transgender bias. These appointments, as Lambda Legal warns, threaten the impartiality of courts that serve over 9% of the U.S. population identifying as LGBTQ+.
The process for these nominations has grown increasingly opaque. The Trump administration has ceased issuing public press releases for many judicial nominees, instead sending their names directly to the Senate Judiciary Committee without advance notice. This lack of transparency, according to Lambda Legal, makes it far more difficult for the public and advocacy groups to respond to or scrutinize new appointments.
Among the most controversial new judges is Whitney Hermandorfer, now on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Hermandorfer previously defended Tennessee’s law banning transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming healthcare and challenged Biden-era Title IX rules that protected transgender students. Another, Josh Divine, now presides over the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri and has defended Missouri’s ban on gender-affirming care for youth, as well as challenged bans on so-called “conversion therapy.” Divine has also published articles opposing same-sex marriage.
William “Bill” Mercer, now a judge for the District of Montana, previously served as a state representative and voted for 2023 legislation that redefined sex and gender in ways that, critics argue, attempt to legally erase transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. Mercer also supported bills barring transgender people from using restrooms and participating in sports that align with their gender identity.
The trend continues with Jordan Pratt, confirmed to the Middle District of Florida, who represented a medical provider refusing to use correct pronouns for transgender patients and advocated for the right of professors to misgender transgender and nonbinary students. Edmund LaCour, Jr., now on the Northern District of Alabama bench, defended a law making it a felony to provide gender-affirming care for youth and filed supporting briefs for anti-trans laws in other states.
These judicial appointments are not occurring in a vacuum. The Trump administration’s broader policy agenda has dramatically affected abortion rights, immigration, environmental protections, and the rights of protestors. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration had clarified that hospitals must provide emergency abortions under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (Emtala), even in states with abortion bans. However, Trump’s team dropped the federal case against Idaho’s near-total abortion ban and rescinded this guidance, raising alarms among advocates who fear doctors will now hesitate to provide life-saving care. According to The Guardian, at least five women are believed to have died because post-Roe bans blocked them from necessary treatment.
Further tightening abortion access, Robert F Kennedy Jr., in his capacity at the Department of Health and Human Services, announced a re-examination of the abortion pill mifepristone. This move could restrict telemedicine prescriptions, which have become a critical means for patients in restrictive states to access abortion care.
On immigration, Trump’s promise of the largest mass deportation campaign in U.S. history has materialized. Aggressive raids have targeted Latino neighborhoods, day-labor sites, and even immigration courts, resulting in record levels of arrests—many involving individuals with no criminal convictions. The administration has effectively sealed the southern border, driving illegal crossings to decades-low levels, and has slashed the refugee program, reserving most spots for white South Africans. The White House has also moved to strip immigrants of legal status and protections, including efforts to end birthright citizenship.
Trump’s approach to urban governance has been equally forceful. He ordered federalized National Guard troops into cities such as Los Angeles, Washington DC, Portland, Chicago, and Memphis, often over the objections of local leaders. Some deployments have been temporarily blocked by federal judges, while the Supreme Court now reviews the legality of the Chicago mobilization.
The administration’s environmental policy has been marked by a rapid opening of federal lands to oil, gas, and mining interests. Protections for millions of acres in Alaska’s North Slope have been reversed, and 13 million acres of federal land have been made available for coal leasing. The Interior Department’s 2025 proposal would make it easier for developers to harm endangered species and limit public input on resource projects, while a mass exodus of scientists and employees from conservation agencies has weakened the government’s ability to safeguard public lands and wildlife.
For LGBTQ+ Americans, the past nine months have brought what advocates describe as an unprecedented rollback of rights. Trump’s executive orders and funding threats have led hospitals—even in traditionally supportive states—to end trans youth programs, leaving families scrambling for alternatives or considering leaving the country. The administration has targeted LGBTQ+-inclusive schools, banned trans people from the military, invalidated trans and nonbinary passports, revoked fair-housing protections, shuttered a suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, and cut critical HIV prevention funding. Litigation has blocked or slowed some policies, but the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has repeatedly sided with anti-LGBTQ+ measures.
Press freedom and civil liberties have been further eroded. Trump’s administration has pursued lawsuits against news organizations and restricted access to government sources, leading to major changes at outlets like the Washington Post and CBS News. While some newsrooms have resisted, the overall climate for American democracy and press rights has deteriorated significantly.
In response, organizations like Lambda Legal are mobilizing to oppose judicial nominees with anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-civil rights records, urging the public to contact their senators and demand accountability. As the nation moves deeper into Trump’s second term, the stakes for civil rights, democratic norms, and the rule of law remain as high as ever.
