White House bullish after a long string of Supreme Court victories

Trump administration officials are on a winning streak at the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON — While President Donald Trump’s aggressive use of executive power has resulted in a flurry of lawsuits, administration officials have won a series of high-profile victories at the Supreme Court in part due to careful case selection aimed at securing the backing of the conservative majority.

The White House has won 18 times at the Supreme Court since Trump took office and is on a 15-case winning run. The last loss was in May.

“They’re ecstatic,” a person close to the White House said of the series of recent legal wins, adding that officials do not want to overplay their hand at the court.

But only a small number of the more than 300 active lawsuits filed against the Trump administration have made it to the Supreme Court.

So far, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on an emergency basis 28 times, according to an NBC News tally. It has lost only two. Five cases are pending, although the court issued temporary wins to the government in two of them while it decides what next steps to take. Three others resulted in no decision.