Senate Judiciary Hearing Debates Limiting ‘Universal’ Nationwide Injunctions

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, opened a committee hearing focused on what he and some colleagues called “universal injunctions” — district-court orders that bar federal policies nationwide. “It just can't be right that 1 district judge can stop a nationwide policy in its tracks and leave it stopped for years that it takes to go through the normal process,” Grassley quoted, citing Justice Elena Kagan, and said Congress should consider legislation to stop the practice.

Why it matters: lawmakers, former Justice Department officials and legal scholars said the frequency and scope of nationwide orders have introduced legal and practical tensions. Supporters of limits said such injunctions allow a single judge to dictate national policy and encourage forum shopping; opponents said eliminating them now could leave people and programs without timely relief and weaken courts’ ability to check unlawful executive action.

Grassley framed the hearing around his proposed legislative approach to “bury” universal injunctions and return the federal courts to what he described as the Constitution’s cases-or-controversies framework. He urged Congress to prohibit injunctions and similar nationwide relief and pointed to statistics and examples he said show the reach and consequences of the practice.

Ranking Member Sen. Dick Durbin warned that the hearing could not be separated from recent threats and attacks on judges. Durbin said partisan attacks on the bench have increased threats against federal judges and that the committee must speak with “1 bipartisan voice” to protect judicial security.…