SCOTUS Limits Federal Judges’ Ability to Block Executive Actions Nationwide
The Supreme Court shut down federal judges’ authority to prevent executive acts throughout the country via national injunctions.
The court’s 6-3 decision, with all six GOP-appointed justices in the majority, is a significant setback for those pursuing legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive orders and other actions, many of which have been blocked or temporarily put on hold by nationwide injunctions.
Nationwide, or universal, injunctions prohibit the government from enforcing a law, rule, or policy across the United States, not simply against the individual parties engaged in the litigation or in the districts where they are granted.
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In other words, federal district courts can no longer issue national injunctions affecting everyone.
They can only issue injunctions affecting the plaintiffs before them.
Friday’s judgment concerned Trump’s executive order, which sought to deny citizenship to children born on American soil to parents who were in the country illegally or temporarily. His decision explicitly challenged the 14th Amendment, which declares that anybody born on US soil, regardless of lineage, is a citizen.
The court’s decision does not consider the validity or merits of Trump’s order. Instead, it suspended countrywide injunctions imposed by federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
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The rulings prohibited federal agencies from enforcing Trump’s birthright citizenship decree anywhere in the country. The Department of Justice (DOJ) appealed the orders, asking the Supreme Court in an emergency application whether courts can award relief to parties who are not litigating before them.
“In a rare move, the Supreme Court held oral arguments on the DOJ’s application in May. Normally, emergency applications are resolved through unsigned orders with limited briefing and no oral argument. Nationwide injunctions have grown more common over recent decades and have been sought by both liberal and conservatives to halt the policies of presidents of both parties,” Democracy Docket reported.
“Legal experts across the ideological spectrum have expressed concerns about the use of nationwide injunctions, saying they promote forum shopping and politicization of the judiciary. Other experts say they are necessary in rare cases to protect civil liberties throughout the country and avoid a patchwork of conflicting judicial rulings,” the outlet added.
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Republicans have long held that district courts are overstepping their bounds by issuing nationwide injunctions to Executive Branch actions. They have argued that district courts only have the authority to rule within their jurisdictions.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has called for limits to be imposed on federal district judges to stop them from issuing nationwide injunctions.
The chairman appeared on Newsmax TV’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” where he lamented what federal district judges have done to stop the administration of President Donald Trump from enacting its agenda.
He stated that the House has passed legislation to limit the power of federal district judges, but the Senate has not yet taken action.
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“We passed the legislation that said one of these federal district judges who issues an injunction, the injunction shouldn’t apply nationwide,” the representative said. “It should apply to the parties in that case in that jurisdiction, not to the entire country.”
The House passed the “No Rogue Judges Act,” on April 9 in a 219-213 vote. The Senate had yet to take up the legislation. “This is about fundamental fairness,” Jordan said.
Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued its ruling on President Trump’s early executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.
Trump has scored a big win in the Birthright Citizenship Case. Not on the merits, but on whether a universal injunction is permitted. This is hugely significant in every case with universal injunctions.
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Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland explained what this means, “US Supreme Court allows Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship to go into effect in some areas of the country for now by curtailing federal judges’ ability to block the president’s policies nationwide.”
