Lafayette Reporter

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana has announced his support for the Judicial Relief Clarification Act, introduced with Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and other colleagues. The proposed legislation seeks to address what its proponents describe as judicial overreach by restricting federal courts from providing relief to individuals not directly involved in a case.

Kennedy remarked, “Some courts in this country have chosen to weaponize universal injunctions to stop the Trump administration from delivering on its promises to the American people. This bill will make sure that judges can only rule on the cases before them, rather than imposing their will on the entire country.”

Grassley added, “For a number of years, but particularly in the last few months, we’ve increasingly seen sweeping orders from individual district judges that dictate national policy. Our Founders saw an important role for the judiciary, but the Constitution limits judges to exercising power over ‘cases’ or ‘controversies.’ Judges are not policymakers, and allowing them to assume this role is very dangerous. The Judicial Relief Clarification Act clarifies the scope of judicial power and resolves illegitimate judicial infringement upon the executive branch. It’s a commonsense bill that’s needed to provide long-term constitutional clarity and curb district courts’ growing tendency to overstep by issuing sweeping, nationwide orders.”

The issue at hand involves universal injunctions, which are court orders that prevent the implementation of a government law or policy against anyone, not just those involved in the court case. During the Trump administration's first term, federal courts issued at least 86 universal injunctions, mainly originating from states like New York and California, versus the 28 faced by the Biden administration and 12 by the Obama administration.

Besides addressing universal injunctions, the bill plans to amend the Administrative Procedure Act. This amendment would stop courts from using the Act to provide universal relief to non-parties challenging agency actions. Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs), which also obstruct the federal government, are non-appealable, but the bill aims to make such orders against governments immediately appealable.

The Judicial Relief Clarification Act is intended to ensure that federal district courts decide only on the cases before them, as outlined in the Constitution's Article III. Other cosponsors of the bill include Senators John Barrasso, Marsha Blackburn, Katie Britt, Ted Budd, Bill Cassidy, John Cornyn, Kevin Cramer, Ted Cruz, Steve Daines, Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Jim Justice, Mike Lee, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Ashley Moody, Bernie Moreno, Eric Schmitt, Thom Tillis, and Tommy Tuberville.

The full text of the bill is available for review.