On February 4, 2017, Friedland and Judge
William Canby rejected the
Trump administration's request for an administrative stay of the district court's temporary restraining order in
State of Washington v. Trump, part of the ongoing court cases related to
Executive Order 13769, pending full review in the Ninth Circuit. On February 7, Friedland, Canby, and Judge
Richard Clifton heard oral arguments on the emergency motion to stay, with an audio feed of the telephonic argument broadcast nationwide. On February 9, the three judges denied the request for a stay of the temporary restraining order. The case was notably parodied by
Saturday Night Live, with Judge Friedland being portrayed by
Vanessa Bayer. On July 3, 2019, in another high-profile ruling, Friedland and
Richard R. Clifton upheld a district court's halting of parts of
Donald Trump's wall.
N. Randy Smith issued a dissent, and on July 26, the Supreme Court overturned Friedland and Clifton by a 5–3 vote, with
Stephen Breyer saying he would temporarily block the construction of the wall but allow funding to be set aside for it. On August 16, 2021, Friedland (joined by Ronald Gould & Jill Otake) upheld an EPA ruling that the Sacketts' property contained wetlands that were protected by the Clean Water Act. The 9th circuit was reversed by the Supreme Court in
Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (2023), which held that only wetlands with a "continuous surface connection" to waters of the United States were protected by the Clean Water Act. In
Garcia v. City of Los Angeles, decided on September 2, 2021, Friedland ruled that the city of Los Angeles cannot seize and discard the "bulky items" of homeless individuals. On January 2, 2024, Friedland wrote a dissent from denial of en banc in
California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, a case where the original panel overturned the City of Berkeley's ban on natural gas in new buildings. Friedland was joined by Chief Judge Murguia, Judges Wardlaw, Gould, Koh, Sung, Sanchez, & Mendoza. In Friedland's nearly 10 years on the bench, this is the first time she has written a dissent from denying en banc. ==Personal life==