US high court quashes ‘universal’ injunctions on president’s policies
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court on the last day of rulings for its current term gave Donald Trump his latest in a series of victories at the nation’s top judicial body, one that may make it easier for him to implement contentious elements of his sweeping agenda as he tests the limits of presidential power.
With its six conservative members in the majority and its three liberals dissenting, the court on Friday curbed the ability of judges to impede his policies nationwide, resetting the power balance between the federal judiciary and presidents.
The ruling came after the Republican president’s administration asked the Supreme Court to narrow the scope of so-called “universal” injunctions issued by three federal judges that halted the nationwide enforcement of his January executive order limiting birthright citizenship.
The court’s decision has “systematically weakened judicial oversight and strengthened executive discretion,” said Paul Rosenzweig, an attorney who served in Republican President George W. Bush’s administration.
Friday’s ruling said that judges generally can grant relief only to the individuals or groups who brought a particular lawsuit.
The decision did not, however, permit immediate implementation of Trump’s directive, instead instructing lower courts to reconsider the scope of the injunctions. The ruling was authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, one of three conservative justices who Trump appointed during his first term in office from 2017-2021.
Series of victories
Trump has scored a series of victories at the Supreme Court since returning to office in January. These have included clearing the way for his administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own without offering them a chance to show the harms they could face and ending temporary legal status held by hundreds of thousands of migrants on humanitarian grounds.
The court also permitted implementation of Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military, let his administration withhold payment to foreign aid groups for work already performed for the government, allowed his firing of two Democratic members of federal labor boards to stand for now, and backed his Department of Government Efficiency in two disputes.
“President Trump secured the relief he sought in most of his administration’s cases,” George Mason University law school professor Robert Luther III said.
“Justice Barrett’s opinion is a win for the presidency,” Luther said of the decision on nationwide injunctions. “It recognizes that the executive branch is a bully pulpit with a wide range of authorities to implement the promises of a campaign platform.”
Republicans have complained that a handful of unelected judges were curtailing the actions of a president who was widely elected to implement such policies.
Dissenters
Once again, as with many of the term’s major decisions, the three liberal justices found themselves in dissent, a familiar position as the court under the guidance of Chief Justice John Roberts continues to shift American law rightward.
The rulings in favor of Trump illustrate that “the court’s three most liberal justices are proving less relevant now than at any earlier point in the Roberts Court with respect to their impact on its jurisprudence,” Luther said.
The cases involving Trump administration policies this year came to the court as emergency filings rather than through the normal process.
