How CA, Bay Area are leading charge in challenging Pres. Trump's executive orders

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As President Donald Trump's executive actions come down the pike at a record pace, legal opposition is piling up, and California is among the states leading the charge.

"At this point, the Trump administration is firing off these executive orders faster than the courts can react," said legal expert Steven Clark.

California's Attorney General Rob Bonta has already filed four complaints, and in San Francisco, the county's leading a lawsuit against Trump's crackdown on sanctuary cities. The San Francisco Aids Foundation is leading a complaint against three of the president's executive orders attacking people of color and the LGBTQ+ community.

RELATED: San Francisco suing Trump administration over sanctuary city policies

"Under the constitution, congress makes the law, not the president. And Congress has been slow to act in response to these executive orders. So it's really up to the courts to try to see whether the president is overstepping his executive authority," said Clark.

"Some presidents have succeeded and some haven't, but almost every president has tried to expand presidential power," said Melissa Michaelson, political science expert and Dean of Arts & Science at Menlo College.

The dean noted, that there has been a shift towards sidestepping Congress and legislating through the courts.

"Instead of sending it to Congress to fill in the gaps or figure out the details of how a law would work it's now being decided through the courts and we've seen the courts through the 50s and especially the 70's saying yes we'll step into that role," said Michaelson.

But, some states say it's gone too far, including California, which sued the previous Trump Administration 123 times according to the attorney general's office.

RELATED: SF and CA join lawsuit challenging Trump's executive order cutting birthright citizenship

This time around, coming under quick criticism from organizations like the Center for American Liberty, which is calling the lawsuit led by the San Francisco Aids Foundation, posturing.

"It's premature. None of these organizations have lost any funding, at least as far as I can tell," said Eric Sell, Legal Fellow at the Center for American Liberty."So, it's yet to be seen whether they're actually going to be injured by any of these executive orders or their implementing actions."

And, some federal judges are agreeing these cases are too early. Last week a federal judge denied 14 democratic-led states' request to block Elon Musk and DOGE from accessing data or firing federal employees, noting the states haven't shown they will "suffer imminent, irreparable harm."

"The courts will look at all aspects of these orders to see whether some are valid and some are not, so it's a detailed analysis on each one," said Clark, adding, that it's likely to come down to one of these cases reaching the highest court. "Until we have clarity from the United States Supreme Court, I think we're going to be very confused with a lot of these executive orders and whether they're binding."