Donald Trump has lost more than 80% of the cases brought against him at the district and circuit court levels.
Posted by The Briefing with Jen Psaki, Checked
- Sources
- 2 contradict2 support3 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 55%
The Briefing with Jen PsakiSep 24, 2026
The claim's district-court part is supported only on some measures: the NYT counted 48 plaintiff wins against 5 losses on final district merits rulings, and a May 2025 analysis put adverse district rulings at 96%.
A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.
What was said
… Apparently, as a whole theory with, you know, corrupt builders, you know, just go ahead and demolish something before a court tells you you can't do it. But I think that more and more of the federal courts are hip and wise to what he's doing. He's lost more than 80% of the cases that have been brought in the district court and circuit court levels. But, I mean, if you take, you know, what's going on right now with his banishment of, you know, your your network and CNN and Politico, it's really almost like a choice of constitutional theories: Does the court strike him down because there was no due …
The Briefing with Jen Psaki · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. Court Accountability's analysis of all orders reports a 60% challenger win rate in district courts and 59% in circuit courts, well below 80%.[3]
Contradicts. Above the Law reports Trump and his administration prevailed in 45% of circuit court cases, which is inconsistent with losing more than 80% at the circuit level.[4]
Supports. On final merits rulings from district court judges, plaintiffs suing the administration won 48 times and lost only five times, which implies a loss rate above 80% for the district level.[5]
Supports. A May 2025 analysis by Stanford's Adam Bonica found district judges ruling against Trump 96% of the time, though this is an unrated outlet and a single snapshot.[6]
Context. The 80% figure Trump cited in 2017 concerned Ninth Circuit Supreme Court reversal rates, a different metric from the share of cases he lost, and fact-checkers rejected it as misleading.[1][2]
Context. Loss rates depend on the measure: final merits rulings excluding dismissals versus all rulings including interim orders produce very different figures, and the circuit-level figures reported in sources do not reach 80%.[3][5][7]
Sources
7 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 4 not rated, 1 tier 2
- 1Does the Ninth Circuit have an overturn record 'close to 80%'?politifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2Trump Misuses Data in 9th Circuit Attack - FactCheck.orgfactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 3Where Law Still Rulescourtaccountability.substack.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, context
- 4How Trump’s True Believer Judges Are Warping The Federal Courts - Above the Lawabovethelaw.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5What We Learned After Tracking Every Lawsuit Challenging ...nytimes.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
- 6Trump says liberal judges are blocking his agenda — data suggests otherwisesan.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7How Many Lawsuits Has Trump Lost: By Term and Categorylegalclarity.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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