Supreme Court limits ability of judges to stop President Trump
NATIONAL (CNN) -- The Supreme Court’s ruling today curtailing nationwide injunctions will have far-reaching consequences for President Donald Trump’s second term, even if his birthright order is never enforced.
All along, the issue of birthright citizenship was intertwined with Trump’s executive order in the court’s appeal. But the case also raised fundamental questions about the power of courts to pause the president’s agenda while they consider challenges to his policies.
The Supreme Court’s majority largely glossed over the issue of birthright citizenship, handing that off to lower courts to assess. What it focused on instead was eliminating a tool that both conservative and liberal groups have used to pause policies from presidents of both parties: the nationwide, or universal injunction. For Trump, this means his opponents will have to jump through additional hoops to try to shut down policies on a nationwide basis.
It won’t be impossible to do so, but it will prove more difficult.
The court was careful to say that parties could still seek nationwide relief to pause a policy if that was is required to address their harm. That is precisely the argument nearly two dozen Democratic states made challenging the birthright policy — and while the court didn’t directly address it, it left wide room for states to make that claim again. The states had argued they needed a nationwide block on Trump’s birthright citizenship policy because it was too easy for people to cross state borders to have a baby in, for example, New Jersey — where that child would be a citizen — rather than staying in Pennsylvania, where it might not.
And so, under the court’s opinion, states are likely to have easy time shutting down the birthright policy again.
But on other policies — from trade to other immigration enforcement issues — the Supreme Court’s decision may be beneficial to the president (and other future presidents) by making it harder for individuals to seek a temporary pause of a policy when they feel their rights have been violated.
President Donald Trump has begun his briefing room victory lap after a major Supreme Court win.
“Big one, wasn’t it? This was a big decision,” Trump said from the White House, calling the birthright citizenship ruling an “amazing decision, one that we’re very happy about.”
The president, who is joined by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, said the ruling was a “victory for the Constitution, the separation of powers and the rule of law.”
He said it struck down “the excessive use of nationwide injunctions to interfere with the normal functioning of the executive branch.”
