The GOP-led House is expected to vote next week on a bill that would stem the tide of federal judges issuing nationwide injunctions against elements of President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) announced plans for the “No Rogue Rulings Act,” legislation from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) that passed out of the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month, in a Monday post on X.
“Next week the House plans to vote on [Issa’s] No Rogue Rulings Act to limit the judicial overreach of partisan federal judges issuing political nationwide injunctions to impede President Trump’s agenda the majority of American voters elected him to carry out,” Scalise said.
Federal judges have issued more than a dozen injunctions during the first couple months of the new Trump administration, including orders hindering the DOGE effort and blocking the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as legal battles focused on federal government actions play out in court.
While some Republican lawmakers and Trump himself are pushing for some of these judges to be impeached, GOP leadership in the House seems more inclined to go with a legislative response and hearings — at least for the time being.
Democrats have leaned on the judges’ orders as they are stuck in the minority in both chambers of Congress. House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) touted the injunctions during a recent interview on CBS, saying, “We’re winning across the board.”
Issa’s legislation, which has been championed by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), would amend U.S. Code to “limit the authority of district courts to provide injunctive relief, and for other purposes.”
Before passing out the House Judiciary Committee, the bill was amended to allow for an injunction from a panel of three randomly-selected judges when the overarching case is brought by two or more states in multiple circuits and make room for appealing to the Supreme Court.
In the upper chamber, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) unveiled a similar bill on Monday “to STOP liberal judges’ serial abuse of their power by BANNING nationwide injunctions.”
