Senate Panel to Mull Nationwide Injunctions That Trump Detests

The Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday it will take up the issue of nationwide injunctions by federal trial courts.

Opposed by the Trump administration, the practice has long been under fire for blocking initiatives by Republican and Democratic presidents alike. The committee led by South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham will hear testimony on Feb. 25, though no witness list has been made public.

Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General William Barr are among administration officials who’ve been vocal about the issue. The Justice Department in September 2018 also issued guidelines for Justice Department attorneys to combat what then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions called “unconstitutional orders.”

Despite those executive branch efforts, the nationwide injunctions may be something that Congress is uniquely situated to address. The hearing could be a starting point for those discussions among lawmakers.

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas have suggested the high court review the issue whenever it has the chance. In order for them to do that, a case must first make its way through the court system and to the justices.

In January, a divided Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to block a ruling by a federal judge in New York that was keeping Trump’s wealth test policy for immigrants from taking effect while its still being litigated. Gorsuch, in a concurring opinion joined by Thomas, wrote the high court should curb the “increasingly common practice.”

“Whether framed as injunctions of “nationwide,” “universal,” or “cosmic” scope, these orders share the same basic flaw—they direct how the defendant must act toward persons who are not parties to the case,” Gorsuch said then.