District judges’ orders blocking Trump agenda face hearing in top Senate committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing to examine the influx of nationwide orders against the Trump administration by federal district judges. 

Last week, Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed the details of the event, set one day after the House committee’s hearing on the same subject. 

“Since the courts and the executive branch are on an unsustainable collision course, Congress must step in and provide clarity,” he said in a statement last week. “Our hearings will explore legislative solutions to bring the balance of power back in check.”

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Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, left, is holding a hearing Wednesday back to back with the House to look at the judges throttling President Donald Trump’s agenda. (Reuters)

The hearing, titled, “Rule by District Judges II: Exploring Legislative Solutions to the Bipartisan Problem of Universal Injunctions,” will feature testimony from John N. Matthews Professor of Law at Notre Dame Samuel Bray, partner at Boies Schiller Flexner Jesse Panuccio, who was previously the acting associate attorney general at the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the chairman of the DOJ’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and vice chairman of the DOJ’s Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud, as well as Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Federal Courts at Georgetown University Law Center Stephen I. Vladeck.

After revealing details of the hearing, Grassley rolled out his own bill to tackle the issue. 

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From left to right, Judge James Boasberg, President Donald Trump, Amir Ali and Ana Reyes. (Bloomberg via Getty Images/U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia/ SenatorDurbin via YouTube/Bill Pugliano via Getty Images)

“These nationwide injunctions have become a favorite tool for those seeking to obstruct Mr. Trump’s agenda,” he wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “More than two-thirds of all universal injunctions issued over the past 25 years were levied against the first Trump administration. In the past two months alone, judges have issued at least 15 universal injunctions against the administration—surpassing the 14 President Biden faced throughout his four-year term.”

Grassley’s legislation would restrain the lower courts’ ability to issue nationwide orders, and they would no longer be able to stop “legitimate executive action” by granting orders to entities or individuals who are not parties to the lawsuit. 

While similar bills have been introduced by Grassley’s GOP colleagues in both the Senate and House, it is unclear whether the issue will get floor votes, as it would need to amass more than 60 votes in the upper chamber to beat the filibuster. 

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Sen. Chuck Grassley unveiled his own legislation. ( Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has not elaborated much on the issue and, when asked about it, he told reporters, “At the end of the day, there is a process, and there’s an appeals process. And, you know, I suspect that’s ultimately how it’s going to be ended.”

President Donald Trump has made his frustration with nationwide injunctions clear, urging action on them publicly. 

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Sen. John Thune has not indicated plans to bring the issue to the floor. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country!” the president said in a recent Truth Social post. “These people are Lunatics, who do not care, even a little bit, about the repercussions from their very dangerous and incorrect Decisions and Rulings.”

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“If Justice Roberts and the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!” he continued.