SC Affirms Trump’s Executive Power By Limiting Nationwide Injunctions

Continuing its deference to the presidency, the U.S. Supreme Court has further expanded executive authority, ruling that federal judges cannot issue nationwide injunctions—even in cases involving potentially unlawful presidential actions.

The Court sidestepped the core citizenship issue and instead ruled that lower courts cannot impose universal relief.

The decision comes after the Court ruled last year that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts, Truthout’s Marjorie Cohn reported. As of mid-May, more than two dozen nationwide injunctions were in place blocking several Trump administration policies.

These include a stricter voter ID law, a rule requiring mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day, a freeze on $3 trillion in federal spending to ensure alignment with administration priorities, the threat to pull federal funds from schools that retain DEI programs, and a policy that has placed over 25,000 children into deportation proceedings without legal representation.

The case Trump v. CASA, Inc. involved a challenge to Trump’s January 20 executive order that sought to end birthright citizenship.

However, the Court sidestepped the core citizenship issue and instead ruled that lower courts cannot impose universal relief, even when plaintiffs argue that nationwide remedies are the only way to ensure protection.

Legal experts like Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky called the decision unprecedented, warning that it severely restricts judicial power to counter unconstitutional actions.

The Court also granted a partial stay of lower court rulings that had blocked Trump’s executive order.