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The Supreme Court could be poised to hobble the Trump resistance
The Supreme Court could be poised to hobble the Trump resistance
The Supreme Court’s decision to weigh nationwide injunctions could dramatically impact how Trump’s policies are applied across the country.
The high court will hear arguments on nationwide injunctions in a special session on May 15. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP
By Hassan Ali Kanu and Erica Orden
04/21/2025 10:00 AM EDT
One of the most powerful wings of the Trump resistance may be at risk of losing a crucial tool. ...The Supreme Court on Thursday scheduled oral arguments on a momentous question: What is the extent of lower court judges’ power to block a president’s policies nationwide?
If the high court grants the Trump administration’s request to limit or lift three nationwide injunctions blocking his bid to end birthright citizenship, it could cripple the ability of President Donald Trump’s opponents to seek — and judges’ ability to grant — such blocks entirely. Federal judges across the country have already applied the remedy to halt key parts of the president’s agenda in lawsuits challenging anti-diversity initiatives, cuts to federal medical research, the pause on refugee admissions and a freeze on nearly all federal grant spending.
Such limits on the executive branch, Trump administration lawyers say, prevent the government from functioning properly. And President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, Trump administration officials point out, also asked the justices to limit lower courts’ nationwide injunction powers. Though the justices didn’t take up that request, conservative members of the court have been public about their desire to restrain the broad applications of nationwide injunctions.
The Supreme Court’s decision to weigh the power could dramatically impact how Trump’s policies are applied across the country. Without nationwide blocks, some policies, such as birthright citizenship, could be put on hold in certain states while allowed to take effect in others as litigation plays out. The result could be an inconsistent, even chaotic, patchwork where Trump could enforce his agenda in some places but not others. ... That’s because the justices might declare that trial judges can enter injunctions that apply only in the geographic districts where they are appointed. Or the justices might restrict trial judges from issuing remedies that go beyond the specific litigants in a particular case. That would mean, for instance, that a group of blue states challenging Trump’s birthright citizenship order might be able to win an injunction blocking the policy in their states — but the policy would remain in place in all other states.
{snip}
The Supreme Court’s decision to weigh nationwide injunctions could dramatically impact how Trump’s policies are applied across the country.
The high court will hear arguments on nationwide injunctions in a special session on May 15. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP
By Hassan Ali Kanu and Erica Orden
04/21/2025 10:00 AM EDT
One of the most powerful wings of the Trump resistance may be at risk of losing a crucial tool. ...The Supreme Court on Thursday scheduled oral arguments on a momentous question: What is the extent of lower court judges’ power to block a president’s policies nationwide?
If the high court grants the Trump administration’s request to limit or lift three nationwide injunctions blocking his bid to end birthright citizenship, it could cripple the ability of President Donald Trump’s opponents to seek — and judges’ ability to grant — such blocks entirely. Federal judges across the country have already applied the remedy to halt key parts of the president’s agenda in lawsuits challenging anti-diversity initiatives, cuts to federal medical research, the pause on refugee admissions and a freeze on nearly all federal grant spending.
Such limits on the executive branch, Trump administration lawyers say, prevent the government from functioning properly. And President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, Trump administration officials point out, also asked the justices to limit lower courts’ nationwide injunction powers. Though the justices didn’t take up that request, conservative members of the court have been public about their desire to restrain the broad applications of nationwide injunctions.
The Supreme Court’s decision to weigh the power could dramatically impact how Trump’s policies are applied across the country. Without nationwide blocks, some policies, such as birthright citizenship, could be put on hold in certain states while allowed to take effect in others as litigation plays out. The result could be an inconsistent, even chaotic, patchwork where Trump could enforce his agenda in some places but not others. ... That’s because the justices might declare that trial judges can enter injunctions that apply only in the geographic districts where they are appointed. Or the justices might restrict trial judges from issuing remedies that go beyond the specific litigants in a particular case. That would mean, for instance, that a group of blue states challenging Trump’s birthright citizenship order might be able to win an injunction blocking the policy in their states — but the policy would remain in place in all other states.
{snip}
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