Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced a proposal Monday to rein in judicial injunctions like the ones currently hampering President Donald Trump’s popular MAGA agenda.
The Judicial Relief Clarification Act of 2025 (JRCA) would “limit federal court orders to parties directly before the court, ending the practice of universal injunctions,” according to a Judiciary Committee Majority press release. The bill also aims to clarify the constitutional role of the judicial branch.
According to a Judiciary Committee fact sheet, the JRCA:
1. Forbids federal courts from issuing sweeping relief against the government to persons not before the court—ending the practice of universal injunctions and diminishing the
incentive to forum shop for a sympathetic judge.
2. Requires parties seeking universal relief against the government to use the class action process to show that class-wide relief is proper.
3. Makes temporary restraining orders (TROs) immediately appealable, strengthening appellate review.
4. Amends the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and Declaratory Judgment Act to clarify that courts may only issue relief under those statutes to parties before the court.
Sen. Grassley will hold a hearing Wednesday to discuss his “legislative solutions to the bipartisan problem of universal injunctions.”
The proposal comes after a slew of district court rulings and orders blocked multiple key Trump administration objectives, including efforts to end birthright citizenship, terminate federal grants, end DEI initiatives and use a wartime law to deport criminal illegal immigrants.
President Trump has railed against the rulings, accusing the judges of usurping his executive authorities.
In an oped in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, Grassley wrote: “these nationwide injunctions have become a favorite tool for those seeking to obstruct Mr. Trump’s agenda.”
More than two-thirds of all universal injunctions issued over the past 25 years were levied against the first Trump administration. In the past two months alone, judges have issued at least 15 universal injunctions against the administration—surpassing the 14 President Biden faced throughout his four-year term.
“These decisions also place undue stress on the judicial system by inserting political calculation into the selection of the judges and the resolution of disputes,” the senator wrote.
Grassley pointed out that this judicial overreach has occurred amid an NBC poll showing that “more registered voters believe our country is on the right track than at any other point in the past two decades.”
“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,” he said in a statement, Monday.
“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,” Grassley said. “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 bill is cosponsored by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
