Lawsuits Against Presidents: Trump's Latest Legal Foe Is Environmental Nonprofit

An environmental nonprofit has become the latest institution fighting back against President Donald Trump’s controversial policies. The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit this week with the U.S. District Court in New York City after the administration delayed putting the rusty patched bumble bee on the endangered species list.

The delay came after a memorandum from White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus put a temporary freeze on any regulations that were published but had yet to take effect. Placing the bumble bee on the endangered species list was previously set to take place Feb. 10.

“The Trump administration broke the law by blocking the rusty patched bumble bee from the endangered species list. The science is clear – this species is heading toward extinction, and soon. There is no legitimate reason to delay federal protections for this bee,” said Rebecca Riley, senior attorney with the NRDC in a press release Tuesday. “Freezing protections for the rusty patched bumble bee without public notice and comment flies in the face of the democratic process.”

The suit asked the court to prevent the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from delaying the protection. The NRDC claimed that the delay was illegal because the order was final when it was published in the Federal Register. The bumble bee is dangerously close to extinction, having lost 90 percent of its habitat range in the last 20 years alone.​

The Trump administration has been hit with a multitude of lawsuits since inauguration. This is the third lawsuit the NRDC alone has filed against the administration, and more than 50 federal cases coming from 17 different states have been filed since Trump took office, according to NBC News. Comparatively, former President Barack Obama was named in three from Jan. 20 and Feb. 1, while Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were both named in four cases in the same period.