Obama-appointed judge who became Trump rival during election interference case overseeing pivotal DOGE hearing
A federal judge President Donald Trump once described as "the most evil person" is now hearing a lawsuit brought by blue states to stop the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing government data.
First named to the bench in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia Court rose to notoriety in 2021, when she presided over the criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Though, her role Monday centered on whether billionaire Elon Musk's DOGE should be blocked from accessing government data or firing federal employees.
Chutkan is a longtime legal foe of the current president – at least, if her actions from her more than 10 years on the bench are any indication.
In 2021, Chutkan rejected Trump's claims of presidential immunity in the 2020 election interference case. The decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court, whose ruling considerably expanded the notion of immunity for U.S. presidents.
The judge did little to remedy any strained tensions in the months that followed. Beyond boasting the harshest sentencing record for all criminal defendants that appeared before her for their roles in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots, Chutkan has been outspoken about her view of the day. After Trump moved to pardon and grant clemency to the more than 1,500 convicted, she said the president's actions "cannot whitewash the blood, feces and terror that the mob left in its wake."
"And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America's sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power," she continued.
Chutkan also denied Trump's attempt to block the release of records requested by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, supplying them with some 1,800 pages of documents despite the staunch opposition from Trump's legal counsel. Trump famously described her, in response, as the "most evil person."
These actions and words have made her a target of Trump allies.
In 2024, Chutkan was the victim of a "swatting" attack in her Washington, D.C., home, where police responded to what was later determined to be a false shooting report.
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While it seems unlikely she will side with the states to block DOGE access to federal government data, her record of opposition to Trump's agenda is unlikely to reassure Trump and his supporters.
During the first Trump administration, Chutkan was criticized by administration officials for many actions they saw as harmful to their policy agenda. In 2018, she temporarily halted the U.S. from blocking the abortions of illegal teenage immigrants – a ruling that was later overturned.
The following year, she ruled then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos had illegally delayed implementing an Obama-era special education equity rule, which required states to identify and correct for racial disparities in special education programs across the country. She ordered the administration to begin implementing the program "immediately," despite requests from Education Department officials who said they needed more time to do so.
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She has also not been shy about using her position on the bench to criticize Trump's actions.
Following Trump's decision to grant a mass pardon of the 1,600 criminal dependents involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Chutkan reportedly had to reassure Capitol Police who were at the scene that the "rule of law still applies," as Politico reported last month.
However, she added at the time, "I’m not sure I can do that very convincingly these days."