Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says he will introduce legislation to curb what he says is a “dramatic abuse of judicial authority” by courts that have issued injunctions against President Trump’s agenda, including the deportation of alleged criminal gang members.
“District Court judges have issued RECORD numbers of national injunctions against the Trump administration — a dramatic abuse of judicial authority. I will introduce legislation to stop this abuse for good,” Hawley posted on the social media site X.
Hawley issued the statement amid several ongoing court battles between the Trump administration and district court judges.
James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. district court for the District of Columbia, issued an order over the weekend halting the deportation of a group of Venezuelans, including alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, to El Salvador.
The Trump administration continued the deportation of the migrants after a stopover in Honduras despite a verbal and written order by Boasberg attempting to halt two deportation flights.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the judge “is essentially trying to say that the president doesn’t have the executive authority to deport foreign terrorists from our American soil,” calling it “an egregious abuse of the bench.”
Another federal judge on Tuesday blocked Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military.
On March 13, federal judge ordered that the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans affairs must immediately reinstate probationary employees who were fired.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge John McConnell ruled to extend an injunction against the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze payments for federal grants, writing that that the freeze “fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government.”
Hawley’s office said details about the legislation that the Missouri senator intends to introduce will be announced at a later time.
