WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that nationwide injunctions issued by lower court judges “likely exceed” the judicial branch’s constitutional authority — handing the Trump administration a big win in the high court’s most closely-watched case this term.
“[F]ederal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch; they resolve cases and controversies consistent with the authority Congress has given them,” conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the court’s conservative majority.
“When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too.”
The case revolved around the Trump administration’s challenge against multiple nationwide injunctions against the president’s Day One order to end birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court did not address the merits of the birthright citizenship issue in its opinion.
“The Government’s applications to partially stay the preliminary injunctions are granted,” Barrett wrote, “but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue.”
