WASHINGTON, D.C. – In President Donald Trump’s second term, federal district judges from across the US have place universal injunctions on his policies. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing focused on the power these district judges have nationwide. Republican Senators said these injunctions keep the President from doing his job, while Democrats said these judges are doing their jobs and have the authority to issue these injunctions.
Universal injunctions are court orders that block government policy from being enforced by anyone, not just the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Federal judges have issued injunctions of several cases involving the President’s policies: striking down on Trump’s tariffs policy, the removal of undocumented immigrants, birthright citizenship, the firing of federal workers and freezing federal dollars, just to name a few.
“One unelected judge sitting in a courtroom in San Francisco or Boston can now issue a nationwide injunction that ties the hands of the President of the United States,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R- TX). “For all 330 million Americans. That’s not law, that is judicial tyranny.”
“Hearings like this prop up a narrative that bad courts are stopping dear leader Donald Trump because some Kabal of democratic judges is out to get him,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D- RI). “Wrong. The reality is much simpler. He’s breaking the law and doing it a lot, and judges are doing it a lot.”
The Supreme Court is already looking at how much power these district judges have on issuing universal injunctions. We can expect their ruling sometime this summer.