Hawley to Propose Legislation Aiming to Curb Judges Who Hinder Trump’s Agenda
The senator criticized the numerous nationwide injunctions issued by district court judges, labeling them as a ‘serious misuse of judicial power.’
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) declared on March 20 that he plans to introduce legislation aimed at limiting the ability of district court judges to obstruct President Donald Trump’s policies across the nation.
“District Court judges have issued an unprecedented number of national injunctions against the Trump administration—a clear misuse of judicial power,” Hawley stated on the X platform. “I will bring forward legislation to end this abuse once and for all.”
The senator hasn’t provided additional details concerning the proposed legislation.
The Trump administration is currently battling over 100 lawsuits that contest the president’s executive orders. In many of these cases, district courts have halted the execution of various policies on a national scale, including cuts to National Institutes of Health grant funding, a broader freeze on federal funding, restrictions preventing individuals who identify as transgender from serving in the military, and new limitations regarding birthright citizenship, among others.
“This significant increase in universal injunctions hinders the Executive Branch from carrying out its constitutional duties before any courts have fully assessed the validity of those actions, potentially overwhelming this Court’s emergency docket,” Harris remarked, requesting the court to remove the block on Trump’s birthright citizenship directive.
The court has not yet responded to the government’s appeal.
The Trump administration’s efforts to combat illegal immigration have also been impeded by court orders.
Recently, Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the deportation of five suspected members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua transnational gang.
This ruling followed Trump’s invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to expedite the deportation of Tren de Aragua members, which the administration recently categorized as a foreign terrorist organization.
Just hours after his initial ruling, Boasberg issued another order that temporarily halted the deportation of all unauthorized immigrants that could be targeted under the Alien Enemies Act.
By the time that later order was released, deportation flights carrying 238 suspected Tren de Aragua members were already en route to El Salvador, which agreed to detain them at its Terrorism Confinement Center.
“Oops… Too late,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele commented on X in response to the judge’s ruling.
Bukele agreed to detain the suspected terrorists for $6 million—a cost he described in a follow-up post as “a very low fee” for the U.S., “but a steep one for us.”
The Trump administration has since appealed Boasberg’s rulings.