February 10, 2025

Good morning. We’re covering U.S. court actions against Trump’s executive orders, and Israel’s withdrawal from a key zone in Gaza.

Plus, a study in swearing.

Eric Lee/The New York Times

Federal courts might be the last guard against Trump

More than 40 lawsuits have been filed in recent days by state attorneys general, unions and nonprofits seeking to erect a barrier against President Trump’s blitzkrieg of executive orders. Vice President JD Vance yesterday accused any judges who might block the president’s orders of acting illegally.

With a compliant Congress, and little significant resistance in either the streets or within the president’s own party, the judicial branch of the government may be the only check on his power. But while the executive branch is entrusted with the capacity for swift, decisive action, the judiciary is slow by design. Any legal opposition may struggle to keep up with Trump’s fire hose of legal disruption. There have been some measurable results: Judicial orders in nine federal court cases will, for a time, partly bind the administration’s hands.

Foreign aid: On Friday, hours before workers for the government’s main foreign aid agency were set to be suspended with pay or laid off, a court issued a limited, temporary order blocking the move. Thousands of workers were left in limbo, while millions around the world who rely on the agency watched in disbelief.

Immigration: The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration — both legal and illegal — has resulted in at least 10 lawsuits. Here’s a rundown of those and other challenges.

More on Trump President Trump will revoke the security clearances of several current law enforcement and former national security officials who served under former President Joe Biden, White House officials said. Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a finance watchdog, were instructed to cease operations. These are the first independent images to emerge from the migrant operation that the Trump administration has begun at Guantánamo Bay. A few early traders made tens of millions off a new cryptocurrency unveiled by Trump and his sons. But a far larger number of slower investors lost out. Trump issued an executive order to allow white South Africans to migrate to the U.S. as refugees, arguing that they were the “victims of unjust racial discrimination.” Most big technology companies have been boisterous in their courtship of the new administration. Nvidia and Microsoft have avoided the spotlight.

A traffic jam as Palestinians headed north from southern Gaza yesterday. Saher Alghorra for The New York Times

Israeli troops left a key zone that bisects Gaza

Israel’s military yesterday withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor, leaving nearly all of Gaza’s northern territory. The move was required by the tenuous cease-fire with Hamas ahead of any talks for a longer-lasting truce.

Israel’s military presence is now mostly limited to a small sliver of southern Gaza, near the Egyptian border, and a buffer zone along the Israeli border.

Returning home: Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinians jailed by Israel. Rifle-toting Hamas fighters prodded the emaciated captives to give short speeches in which the hostages thanked the militants. Five Thai citizens who had also been kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, also returned home.

Now that they are at home, previously freed hostages are expressing their relief and joy on social media, as descriptions of the torment they endured trickle out.

Naxalite rebels at a temporary base in the state of Chhattisgarh, India, in 2007. Mustafa Quraishi/Associated Press

Dozens of Maoist rebels were killed in India, officials said

A government operation yesterday in the state of Chhattisgarh in central India left 31 Maoist guerrillas and two members of the police forces dead, police officials said. It was one of the deadliest operations in recent years against the so-called Naxalite movement, leftist rebels who have waged an insurgency over several decades.

Context: The insurgency began in eastern India in the 1960s, with violence peaking in 2010, when hundreds of civilians and security force members were killed.

Politics: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national governing party swept to victory in an important regional election in New Delhi.