Congressional Republicans are hoping to turn the tide on legal setbacks to President Donald Trump’s executive actions with bills to weaken the federal judiciary.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Monday introduced a measure to prohibit district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions, rulings he believes are unconstitutional and should apply only to a lawsuit’s individual parties involved.
He assailed the wave of “anti-democratic” injunctions against actions taken by the Trump administration and said federal judges have become the “favorite tool of those seeking to obstruct President Trump’s agenda.”
“Individual district judges, who don’t even have authority over any of the other 92 district courts, are single-handedly vetoing policies the American people elected President Trump to implement,” Grassley said in remarks on the Senate floor. “In short, I’m trying to fix a bipartisan problem that has been plaguing both Democratic and Republican administrations alike.”
Grassley’s legislation, the Judicial Relief Clarification Act, is backed by 21 other GOP senators. Parties seeking nationwide relief would have to file a class action lawsuit under the bill.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) previously filed similar legislation called the Nationwide Injunction Abuse Prevent Act.
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Meanwhile, House Republicans are also advancing a similar measure known as the No Rogue Rulings Act led by Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA). It’s the first judicial overreach bill the House is considering after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Republicans have poured cold water on GOP calls for Congress to impeach judges who’ve handed down unfavorable rulings to the Trump administration.
Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.
