A Federal Judge thought she could block President Trump’s plans.
She didn’t realize Trump was playing three-dimensional chess.
And this rogue Federal Judge just realized the Trump administration had her in checkmate.
Judge’s empty victory exposed by Duffy’s transportation funding gambit
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly thought she had handed Democrat states a major victory on Thursday when she temporarily blocked provisions of President Trump’s executive order requiring proof of citizenship to vote.
The 19 Democrat-led states that filed the lawsuit celebrated – but their victory celebration was cut brutally short.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy appeared on Fox Business with a bombshell announcement that rendered Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling virtually meaningless in the broader immigration enforcement battle.
“Well, put up the map and look at the blue states, Dagen. We’re talking billions of dollars, right? So, again, if you’re not going to cooperate with ICE, if you have DEI policies where you’re going to discriminate against a certain class of people within your state, even if you give a driver’s license to illegals, we’re going to look and say, ‘Hey, you know what? If you can’t comply with federal law, why are federal tax dollars going to go and fund your infrastructure?'” Duffy asked.
The federal judge never saw this coming.
Trump administration outmaneuvers judicial activism with funding strategy
While judges can block executive orders, they have far less power to interfere with federal agency funding decisions – a reality Judge Kollar-Kotelly is now confronting.
“Again, hopefully, this will incentivize those states to get in line with common sense American principles and policies, which the president has laid out. If they do, they don’t have a problem,” Duffy added. “But if they don’t comply, we’re not going to approve their grants and the flow of billions of dollars into their states.”
This is just a friendly reminder to all states: if you receive government grants, you must follow federal laws! pic.twitter.com/Z4S89UXdOz
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) April 24, 2025
Legal experts were stunned by the Trump administration’s strategic pivot. While courts have been the preferred battlefield for Democrat resistance, federal funding levers give the executive branch enormous power that courts are reluctant to challenge.
On Thursday, Duffy released an official statement warning “all recipients of federal transportation funding” that “non-compliance” with federal immigration law “may lead to enforcement actions” affecting their transportation needs.
The timing – coming the same day as Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling – was no coincidence.
Trump team flips the script on Democrat lawfare strategy
For years, Democrats have used the courts to obstruct Republican policies. The Trump administration’s new approach shows they’ve learned valuable lessons from their first term.
“Again, there’s one option where you can say we’re not going to send you these dollars if you have these policies. That’s not what we’re doing,” Duffy said. “We’re saying we’re going to give you all the money that you’ve requested or you’re entitled to or the grant projects that are really good for the roads and bridges or trains in your community. You just have to certify that your state actually matches up with federal law.”
The transportation funding strategy completely sidesteps the court battle over Trump’s executive order. While Judge Kollar-Kotelly blocked provisions requiring proof of citizenship to vote, she has no jurisdiction over the Transportation Department’s funding decisions for states that refuse to comply with federal immigration law.
It’s a brilliant end-run around judicial obstruction that has Democrat Governors panicking.
Democrat states face unwinnable two-front legal battle
The 19 states that sued over Trump’s executive order now find themselves caught in a devastating legal trap.
“Our department is massive. We do airports. We do roads, bridges, trains, ports, pipelines. It’s a massive space,” Duffy explained. “So they’re going to be confronted with the choice. Do they want to get in line, or do they want cash for projects?”
Court watchers note that while Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling addresses the citizenship verification executive order, it provides no protection against transportation funding consequences for sanctuary policies or DEI initiatives.
Democrat states would need to file separate lawsuits challenging the transportation funding policy – lawsuits that would likely fail given the broad discretion federal agencies have in distributing grant funding.
“Again, I think that the ideology that they have in these liberal states, they might forgo the money. I don’t think it makes sense,” Duffy stated. “I think their constituents will be angry. But, again, they have that choice to make politically. What do they want to do?”
The transportation funding policy represents an entirely separate front in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement strategy – one that appears largely immune to the kind of judicial intervention that temporarily blocked parts of Trump’s executive order.
Legal analysts say this two-pronged approach demonstrates a more sophisticated strategy than the Trump administration employed in its first term. By using multiple policy levers simultaneously, the administration creates a situation where even if judges block one avenue, others remain viable.
For Democrat states and the judges who often side with them, it’s a sobering reminder that the executive branch has powerful tools at its disposal beyond executive orders – tools that are much harder for courts to control.
In this high-stakes chess match between the Trump administration and Democrat-led states, Secretary Duffy just revealed the move that puts Judge Kollar-Kotelly and sanctuary states in check.
Political Animal News will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
