House GOP targets 'rogue' activist judges, advancing new bill amid Trump's legal standoffs

As President Donald Trump grapples with more than a dozen injunctions, Republican lawmakers have targeted "rogue" activist judges with two new bills.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) introduced the No Rogue Rulings Act to restrict U.S. district judges' ability to issue broad injunctions. The bill passed the House Rules Committee on Tuesday in a 9-4 vote along party lines.

'700 District Court judges shouldn't each have nationwide veto power over a President's national security decisions.'

"The bill would allow a district court to issue a nationwide injunction in a case in which two separate states from two separate judicial circuits are parties — making clear the nationwide nature of the dispute. In such a case, the bill provides for the establishment of a panel of three randomly chosen judges to determine whether to issue a nationwide injunction. Such injunctions may be appealed directly to the Supreme Court," the proposed bill reads.

Since Trump's January inauguration, his administration has already been hit with 15 injunctions, stalling a wide range of initiatives such as the end of birthright citizenship, deportation flights, and the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Issa told the New York Post that his proposed bill is "a constitutional solution to a national problem."

"Time and again, solitary judges have usurped congressional intent and confronted President Trump, rather than dispassionately interpreted the law," he stated.

New York Republican Reps. Claudia Tenney, Nick Langworthy, and Nick LaLota have co-sponsored the bill.

Tenney pointed out that 67% of all injunctions ever issued have been placed against Trump.

"I am supporting the No Rogue Rulings Act to stop radical judges from imposing nationwide injunctions on President Trump's agenda, which 77 million Americans voted for," she wrote in a post on X.

LaLota stated, "700 District Court judges shouldn't each have nationwide veto power over a President's national security decisions."

Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.) called the activist judges' actions "unconstitutional lawfare."

Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday introduced a similar measure, the Judicial Relief Clarification Act, which aims to "limit federal court orders to parties directly before the court — ending the practice of universal injunctions and clarifying the constitutional role of the judicial branch."

It would require parties to file a class-action lawsuit to receive nationwide injunctive relief.

Grassley stated, "For a number of years, but particularly in the last few months, we've increasingly seen sweeping orders from individual district judges that dictate national policy. Our Founders saw an important role for the judiciary, but the Constitution limits judges to exercising power over 'cases' or 'controversies.' Judges are not policymakers, and allowing them to assume this role is very dangerous."

On Tuesday, two House Judiciary Committee subcommittees held a joint hearing examining judicial overreach. Former Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Paul Larkin, a senior legal research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, joined the hearing as witnesses.

Larkin told lawmakers, "The practice of issuing nationwide injunctions outside the confines of a certified nationwide class action is mistaken as a matter of law and unwise as a matter of policy."

"It is not the courts that are responsible for creating the laws; the courts are responsible for interpreting it as it applies, but they can only do so in the context of a case or controversy," he added. "Only the Congress can create a law. Any time a court enters a judgment that is tantamount to being a law, the judge has gone too far."

Gingrich called the judges' injunctions against the Trump administration "potentially a judicial coup d'état."

“The notion that unelected lawyers can micromanage the executive branch and override a commander in chief who received 77.3 million votes should trouble every American,” he stated.

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