June 27, 2025
Federal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch …
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in a 6-3 decision by the nation’s highest court that ruled in favor of the executive branch’s challenge to federal courts that have halted executive action. Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the dissenting opinion wrote that this decision “is nothing less than an open invitation for the Government to bypass the Constitution.”
Why It Matters: The Supreme Court decision limits the power of federal courts to halt executive action.
Important To Note Before You Read About This Case:
* Any changes to the Constitution require an act of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of states.
* “Coming at a preliminary stage of the litigation, the decision didn’t resolve the underlying legality of Trump’s policy. The court said Trump’s birthright-citizenship order, consistent with a representation from the Justice Department, won’t take effect for 30 days, a time frame that likely will give judges another chance to craft injunctions against the White House based on the high court’s guidance.” (WSJ)
Background: On the first day of his administration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to effectively end birthright citizenship for *some* (including babies born to those in the country without legal status). Birthright citizenship is currently guaranteed to everyone in the country, under the Supreme Court’s 1898 interpretation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, passed in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Attorneys general in several states filed lawsuits in federal courts to halt the executive order. Federal judges ruled in favor of those challenging the order, effectively freezing the order nationwide (otherwise known as an “injunction”).
The administration asked the Supreme Court to weigh in, *not on the legality of birthright citizenship* but on the power of these federal district courts to halt the action of the executive branch *nationwide.*
Today, June 27th, the Supreme Court ruled that these federal court decisions can stand IN specific areas of the country, but that federal courts do NOT have the power to halt executive action nationwide. Writing for the Court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, explained that “… federal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch; they resolve cases and controversies consistent with the authority Congress has given them. When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too.”
Why would the President ask for this? Injunctions can lead to multi-year legal challenges, where executive action can toil in the court system. Supporters of the Supreme Court’s decision, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, argue that federal court judges in liberal areas, like California, can slow down or shutdown policies of this administration for the whole country. Critics argue it will put too much power in the executive branch without any meaningful checks by the judicial branch.
“Trump’s legal opponents argue that nationwide injunctions remain a sensible approach in some circumstances, to avoid a patchwork of cases and legal rules that vary by jurisdiction. They say that in the birthright-citizenship matter, limiting the geographic scope of lower court rulings against Trump’s policy would mean that for now newborns in some states would be recognized as citizens but not in others, while countless plaintiffs would need to file lawsuits around the U.S.” (WSJ)
Context: Pres. Trump isn’t the only to challenge the federal judiciary’s power: “The justices agreed with the Trump administration, as well as President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration before it, that judges are overreaching by issuing orders that apply to everyone instead of just the parties before the court.” (AP)
READ the full Supreme Court decision HERE.
Read More: Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions, but fate of Trump birthright citizenship order unclear (AP)
Supreme Court Limits Rulings Against Trump on Birthright Citizenship (WSJ)
by Jenna Lee, Founder of SmartHER News
