It’s safe to say that the federal government faces a massive amount of litigation. It is the nation’s largest employer, employing approximately 3 million Americans, more than megacorporations like Walmart and Amazon. The government also touches essentially every aspect of American life, and thus every aspect of American litigation.
According to a Docket Alarm survey of litigation against Cabinet-level government departments since 2020, litigation involving the government has steadily grown over the last five years. This analysis excludes litigation against Cabinet-level independent agencies, and was conducted via searching for the full formal name of each department. The analysis also excludes lawsuits filed against the federal government generically, without naming any department.
Given the sweeping changes and cuts to the federal government implemented by the second Trump administration, Docket Alarm has seen a notable increase in litigation involving federal government agencies since the start of 2025, as individuals and civil service agencies challenge administration actions. These types of lawsuits hit a new high in July 2025, with 434 cases filed. July 2024 saw only 372 cases filed.
Under this analysis, the most-sued Cabinet department is the Department of State. The vast majority of lawsuits are tagged as Immigration cases. While the State Department does not oversee agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) – these agencies fall under the Department of Homeland Security – the State Department is responsible for other immigration matters.
The remaining most-sued departments include the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Education.
Like State, the Department of Homeland Security faces mostly immigration-tagged cases. The top case type against the Department of Health and Human Services is litigation involving the Freedom of Information Act. For Agriculture and Education, most lawsuits are brought under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), the legal framework for challenging the actions of government agencies. APA cases against agencies can include suits by food service proprietors challenging alleged violations of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
