The White House has asked a federal circuit court to stay a district court's temporary restraining orderthat blocked President Donald Trump from using the Alien Enemies act to deport noncitizens, including alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Meanwhile, the fallout over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats voting with Republicans to avert a government shutdown continued, with some in Schumer's party calling for new leadership while others defended him, but said the party needed to use new tactics and new messaging.
And Trump signed an executive order on Saturday that rescinded 19 executive actions issued by former President Joe Biden's administration on gender, labor policies and industry regulations, bringing the number of Biden's actions reversed by Trump to nearly 100.
Prior to becoming defense secretary, Pete Hegseth was very critical of military standards that he felt had enabled women to serve in combat units.
He announced in a memo on Wednesday a “rapid force-wide review” of “existing standard set by U.S. military branches pertaining to physical fitness, body composition, and grooming, which includes but is not limited to beards."
The comments reflect the military standards that he was critical of prior to helming the Department of Defense.
-ABC News' Luis Martinez
Mar 12, 2025, 7:53 PM EDT
Judge orders DOGE to hand over key records
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Department of Government Efficiency to hand over key documents that may shed light on the group’s attempt to reduce the size of the federal government.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan – who previously oversaw President Donald Trump’s election interference case – ordered the government to turn over materials related to DOGE and Elon Musk’s efforts to reduce the size of federal agencies, freeze federal contracts, access sensitive databases and terminate federal employees.
White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn with President Donald Trump, Mar. 9, 2025 in Washington.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images
“The court concludes that granting expedited discovery is in the best interest of all parties,” Chutkan wrote.
The order comes after a group of 14 Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging Musk's role as head of DOGE, alleging his “sweeping authority" is in violation of the Constitution.
Chutkan denied their request for an emergency order last month in part because the plaintiffs lacked the evidence to show the irreparable harm of Musk’s agency; now, the attorneys general are hoping to use the discovery process to find the evidence they need.
However, the judge placed some limitations on the demand for evidence, finding that Trump himself is exempt from the order and excluding electronic communications like emails or texts.
Chutkan is also considering whether to issue an injunction blocking Musk from running DOGE.
-ABC News' Peter Charalambous
Mar 12, 2025, 4:52 PM EDT
Education Department guts agency that compiles the Nation's Report Card
The Department of Education's far-reaching layoffs have decimated a small statistical agency considered to be the "authoritative and trusted source" of information on the education system in the United States, several former employees familiar with the situation told ABC News.
Since the 1860s, the National Center for Education Statistics has collected data used to measure academic success, productivity and crime and safety in schools, among other topics.
The headquarters of the Department of Education are shown Mar. 12, 2025 in Washington.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
It issues a congressionally-mandated test called the National Assessment of Education Progress -- better known as the Nation's Report Card -- which, since 1969, has been considered the gold standard of testing to compare the academic performance and progress of students across all 50 states.
But as of this week, nearly all of the agency's statisticians have been fired, according to former employees, gutting the agency and raising questions about how it can continue its work to measure the performance of the country's 18,000 school districts or the efficacy of any policy changes.
-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel
Mar 12, 2025, 4:30 PM EDT
Democrats will not support GOP funding bill: Schumer
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to pass the House-approved deal to fund the government.
If a deal isn't struck, the government will shut down on Friday at midnight.
Schumer pointed the finger at Republicans for leaving Democrats out of the funding negotiations.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill, Mar. 11, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
"Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path drafting their continuing resolution without any input any input from congressional Democrats," Schumer said on the floor.
After days of closed-door meetings and tight-lipped interaction with the press, Schumer said Democrats will instead advocate for a 30-day clean stop gap bill meant to buy more time for appropriators to complete full-year funding bills.
"Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR that will keep the got open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass," Schumer said.
