Jun 27, 2025 - Politics & Policy

Supreme Court limits lower courts' power to block Trump

Sam Baker

Activists demonstrate during a protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court on May 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral argument today on cases whether the Trump administration has the power to end birthright citizenship. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) — Activists demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on May 14, when the court heard oral arguments in cases on birthright citizenship. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Friday imposed new limits on lower courts' ability to freeze federal policies — specifically, President Trump's effort to eliminate birthright citizenship in the U.S.

Why it matters: Lower courts have issued dozens of orders freezing parts of Trump's agenda, and bipartisan criticism of such sweeping rulings has been building for years.

The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, fell along ideological lines.

Driving the news: Every district court to consider Trump's executive order aiming to eliminate birthright citizenship has said it's probably unconstitutional.

And their decisions have been applied universally, freezing the policy in its entirety.
District courts don't have the power to do that, the Supreme Court said.
"When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too," Barrett wrote.
The Supreme Court's ruling did not address whether Trump's policy is constitutional.

Between the lines: The number of "universal" injunctions has risen steadily since the Obama administration, and it has exploded under Trump.

Critics on both sides of the aisle have argued it's become too easy for a single judge to sideline major parts of a president's agenda.

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Supreme Court limits lower courts' power to block Trump

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