A coalition of advocacy groups filed suit [document, PDF] in federal court Monday to challenge a Trump administration executive order [text] aimed at reducing federal regulations. Public Citizen, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the union Communications Workers of America [advocacy websites] brought the suit, alleging that the order exceeds presidential authority and violates the Constitution. The order, signed on January 30, requires that two regulations be repealed from every one enacted, and it has been criticized [WP report] as overbroad and inefficient. As relief, the complaint asks that the court strike down the order as an infringement on legislative authority.

Since taking office, Donald Trump has made expansive use of the President’s power to issue executive orders [JURIST backgrounder]. Trump signed the executive order [JURIST report] in question on the heels of a slew of other executive orders. Shorty after he was inaugurated, the president signed an executive order to withdraw the US [JURIST report] from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim Nations signed a year ago. Also that week Trump signed [JURIST report] an order preventing foreign non-governmental organizations from receiving US funding if they provide abortions or promote policies that may lead to abortions. Trump has also addressed immigration in his orders, signing an order [JURIST report] that withholds federal funding to cities that provide safe haven to illegal immigrants and another directing the construction of a wall along the US and Mexican border and an increase in the number of enforcement officials to remove undocumented immigrants.