No modern president has done more in his first 131 days than President Trump — only to have much of it undone, at least temporarily, by the courts.

• Trump is testing the limits of presidential power at every turn, and the courts are just about the only thing standing in his way.
• The inevitable showdowns between Trump and the judiciary are only going to get more intense, Axios Supreme Court reporter Sam Baker writes.

⚖️ Judges have issued dozens of orders blocking Trump from doing something he wants to do, and the flood seems to grow every day. The headlines are constant: Judge blocks X; Judge freezes Y; Court allows Z to continue.

• This week's ruling against Trump's tariffs — handed down by the usually sleepy Court of International Trade — was one of the biggest shockwaves yet, striking at the centerpiece of his economic agenda and efforts to exert leverage on the world stage.
• That order was quickly put on ice, temporarily, by an appeals court. But there will be more tariff litigation, and more litigation on just about everything else.

🎓 On education, a federal judge in Boston this week said Trump couldn't stop Harvard from enrolling international students, at least for now.

• A separate Boston-based judge last week froze Trump's plans to largely eliminate the Education Department.

💼 That added to an absolute mountain of litigation over Trump's various efforts to gut the federal bureaucracy.

• Courts have stopped or slowed some DOGE-led cuts across the government, the firing of people who serve on independent boards, and the laying off of other government workers.

💥 Immigration has been the most explosive flashpoint of all.

• Every court that's considered Trump's executive order redefining the rules of American citizenship has ruled against it.
• The administration has pointedly refused to bring back the man it wrongly deported to El Salvador, despite even the Supreme Court telling it to "facilitate" his return.

💡 Between the lines: To some extent, this is the system working the same way it always works. The big things presidents do, at least in the modern era, end up in court.

• Obamacare was a big thing, done by both the president and Congress. It's been before the Supreme Court no less than three times.
• Forgiving student loans and trying to impose COVID vaccine mandates were, for better or worse, big things President Biden attempted. The Supreme Court said both were too big.

🔊 Trump has made no bones about wanting to go as big as possible, all the time, on everything — and to do it mostly through executive action. Everyone knew before this administration began that myriad legal challenges were inevitable. And, well, they were.

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When Secretary of State Marco Rubio abruptly announced plans Wednesday to cancel the visas of all Chinese students in the U.S., the Trump administration was quick to cast it as a way to root out spies from the communist nation.

• But behind the scenes, what really set off Rubio was the administration's realization that China was withholding precious rare-earth minerals and magnets as a tariff negotiating tool, sources tell Axios' Marc Caputo.

Why it matters: The decision to target as many as 280,000 Chinese students — and throw another complication into the ongoing trade talks with China — reflects how crucial rare minerals are to the U.S. tech industry.

🔎 Zoom in: That's what inspired Trump's Truth Social post on Friday: "China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US."

• "So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!"
• The materials at issue are crucial for computing and telecom equipment, F-35 fighter jets, drones, submarines and the Joint Direct Attack Munition series of smart bombs.

The big picture: Many of China's ruling party elite, including Xi, have sent their children to study in the United States. Targeting those students sends a message to leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.

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President Trump gave Elon Musk an Oval Office sendoff yesterday, his last official day as head of DOGE, presenting him with a golden key and crediting him with "colossal change."

• Trump said "Elon is not really leaving" and will continue to be "back and forth" to the White House.

👀 Two stories with new revelations about Musk's time in the government broke through on his last day:

1. Musk was using drugs more intensely than previously known while on the campaign trail last year, the N.Y. Times' Kirsten Grind and Megan Twohey report (gift link):

• "He told people he was taking so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use. He took Ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. And he traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall, according to a photo of the box and people who have seen it."
• When asked by Fox News' Peter Doocy about the report in the Oval Office yesterday, Musk brushed it off: "The New York Times. Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russiagate? ... Let's move on."

2. Trump has described Musk to aides as "50% genius, 50% boy," The Wall Street Journal's Josh Dawsey, Annie Linskey and Dana Mattioli report (gift link).

• The president questioned Musk's promise to cut $1 trillion in government spending, asking advisers: "Was it all bulls**t?"
• Musk said yesterday he expects DOGE savings to top $200 billion in the coming months and reach a trillion over time.

Texas, Florida and Oklahoma are America's lightning capitals, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick reports.

• Texas is home to all of the top 10 U.S. counties ranked by lightning strikes per square mile in 2024, according to a report from weather firm Vaisala Xweather.
• Walker County, Texas, had about 825 strikes per square mile in 2024, Limestone County, Texas, had 811, and Madison County, Texas, had 795.

Kash Patel and Dan Bongino spent years torching the American security state for concealing nefarious secrets about Jeffrey Epstein, Jan. 6, the "Russia hoax" and the assassination attempts against President Trump.

• Now they're not only inside the gates, they're in charge of the FBI — and serving a president who distrusts the bureau even more than they do, Axios' Dave Lawler reports.

The big picture: Patel and Bongino's recent Fox News interviews, and sources familiar with their reception inside the bureau, make clear the difficulties they face in maintaining confidence with their fans, their employees, and the president.

1. 🎙️ Some followers and fellow MAGA media figures who revered Patel and Bongino for pillorying the "Deep State" were aghast by their recent conspiracy-quashing comments, particularly that Epstein really killed himself.

• "People are pissed. They feel like Dan and Kash aren't doing the job, that they're beholden to some unseen powers," MAGA-aligned podcaster Tim Pool said Wednesday, adding that he "largely" still trusts the pair.

2. 💼 The FBI's 38,000-strong workforce was never going to immediately embrace the idea of a couple of its biggest antagonists calling the shots, but it's been a tumultuous few months.

• Bureau veterans have privately mocked Bongino's emphasis on ideas like adding pull-ups to the fitness test and MMA-style training at Quantico.
• Some have pushed back on more substantive decisions, such as devoting scores of agents to partnering with ICE on immigration-related arrests, at the expense of other investigative priorities.

3. 👀 While Trump has been publicly supportive, he did say it was "a little bit hard to believe" assertions from Patel and other senior law enforcement figures that there was no wider conspiracy behind the assassination attempts against him.

What they're saying: "Many of these comments are from the same individuals responsible for the shameful politicization of the FBI in the first place. Their criticisms play no factor as we work to clean up the mess they helped leave behind," FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told Axios.

• Keep reading ... Tal Axelrod contributed reporting.

Former President Biden told reporters yesterday in Delaware that "all the folks are very optimistic" about successfully treating his prostate cancer. [Corrects]

• "The expectation is we're going to be able to beat this. There's no — it's not in any organ, my bones are strong, it hadn't penetrated," he said, per The Washington Post.

Biden was diagnosed earlier this month with an aggressive form of cancer that had metastasized to his bone.

• "The prognosis is good. We're working on everything. It's moving along, and I feel good," he said yesterday.

Demand for second homes is at its lowest since at least 2018, Axios' Sami Sparber reports from new Redfin data.

• U.S. homebuyers took out around 86,600 mortgages for second homes last year, per Redfin's analysis. That's down 66% from the pandemic homebuying frenzy.

🏡 State of play: Homeownership costs have soared, and cities are cracking down on short-term rentals. Plus, fewer people can work remotely from their beach house or ski chalet these days.

• Demand has particularly cratered in Florida as climate-related housing costs swell.

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Women's sports bars are springing up in multiple cities, growing from one to 11 in three years, Axios Kansas City's Travis Meier writes.

• Why it matters: With viewership and attendance for women's sports soaring, fans are building new hubs.

Driving the news: Six women's sports bars have opened this year, with as many as 17 on the way in various stages of funding and construction.

• It all started with The Sports Bra, a Portland bar dedicated to supporting and showing women's sports founded by Jenny Nguyen in April 2022.

Read on ... Get Axios Kansas City (launching Monday!)