Until the Supreme Court's ruling Friday, more than 1,000 judges in the US had the power to stop the federal government from carrying out a policy or action. The judges' rulings now will not have nationwide sweep; they'll essentially apply only to the plaintiffs in the case before that court, the New York Times reports. The justices' 6-3 decision came in a birthright citizenship case. Nationwide injunctions give courts "the capacity to tell the key nationwide actor, the executive branch, to behave lawfully," Yale law professor Judith Resnik said. Not only does the ruling remove a major curb on presidential power, it could lead to the revival of President Trump's actions and policies that have been blocked by the courts.
Trump moves stopped at the moment by injunctions include:
- Freezing almost $2 billion in congressionally appropriated foreign aid flowing through the State Department and USAID. Plaintiffs include nonprofits that combat infectious diseases globally.
- Threatening public schools with the loss of federal funding if they don't drop programs promoting diversity, and equity efforts. Plaintiffs include the NAACP and the American Federation of Teachers.
- Ending a contract that funds legal representation for children facing deportation in immigration proceedings. Plaintiffs are nonprofits that assist migrants.
The other way plaintiffs can block government actions is through a class-action suits, per the Times, though it's not easy. For one thing, the Supreme Court has moved to make filing class actions more difficult for years, per Politico. Still, that was the majority's suggestion, and legal experts predicted a surge of class-action filings in opposition to Trump's birthright citizenship ban. It's already begun, per the Washington Post. Groups that had won a nationwide injunction over the ban amended their suit Friday to request class-action status for every pregnant person or child born to families without permanent legal status, regardless of where they live.
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