The Trump administration scored a notable legal victory today when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that federal district judges "likely exceed" their authority when they issue nationwide injunctions that entirely block federal laws or presidential orders from going into effect while legal challenges play out in court.
The case, Trump v. CASA, arose from several lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump's executive order purporting to abolish birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants and temporary legal visitors, such as people holding work visas. The federal district judges in those cases had issued nationwide injunctions against Trump's order.
"But federal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch; they resolve cases and controversies consistent with the authority Congress has given them," declared the majority opinion of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh. "When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully," Barrett wrote, "the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too."
