<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Judges in courtrooms from Rhode Island to Seattle have issued rulings against President Trump that have not only angered the president but also focused the attention of scholars of all ideologies on one of the judiciary’s most fearsome powers, the nationwide injunction.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Less than two months into Mr. Trump’s second term, district judges have issued nationwide decrees blocking the firings of civil servants, the freezing of congressionally appropriated federal funding, the end of nearly automatic citizenship for babies born on American soil and the relocation of transgender women in federal prisons to men’s housing. And that only names a few.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The debate over nationwide injunctions has simmered for years, but with more than <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/trump-administration-lawsuits.html" title="">100 lawsuits pending</a> against the Trump administration, it is now roaring. Last week, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. criticized “the unchecked power” of a district court judge who <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/politics/usaid-foreign-aid-freeze-release-deadline.html" title="">ordered the State Department to release roughly $2 billion</a> to contractors for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh joined in <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a831_3135.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">Justice Alito’s dissent</a>.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">House Republicans are targeting nationwide injunctions <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://issa.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/issa.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/norra-bill-text.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">with a bill</a> that its sponsor, Representative Darrell Issa of California, said was needed to fix “a major malfunction” in the federal judiciary. Under the legislation, undocumented immigrant parents, for instance, would have to file lawsuits as individuals, or as part of a class action, to preserve citizenship rights for their children. Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, has said <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.ksl.com/article/51257967/sen-mike-lee-pushes-to-limit-judges-from-blocking-trumps-agenda" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">he is working</a> on a similar measure that would restrict nationwide judicial orders to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://x.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1898062132073439261" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">three-judge panels</a>, with appeals going directly to the Supreme Court.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Democrats, in turn, have accused Republicans of going after the last check on Mr. Trump’s power, the judiciary.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Without doubt, nationwide injunctions have given the contemporary judiciary a quick and consequential cadence, since any one of the more than 600 trial court judges can make headlines with an emergency ruling that orders the White House to stop in its tracks. The growth of such rulings, experts say, has been driven by presidents of both parties who have used unilateral agency action and aggressive readings of existing laws to circumvent Congress.</p><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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