a VERY big deal! It may be restricting rogue judges… OK, let’s see what happens.
HUGE stuff! (though I think the headline is more than a bit deceptive, and that is totally unnecessary).
“The court says that universal injunctions ‘likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has granted to federal courts,'” explained SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe on a liveblog on Friday.
… Barrett concluded 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.”
Contrary to the headline, the court’s ruling is only obliquely related to birthright citizenship:
Ostensibly, this ruling applies to the executive order about birthright citizenship, but Susie told me on Thursday that the ruling “could be instructive as to how they’re inclined to address them in those other contexts.”
This is an encouraging sign, as the court ruled not specifically on birthright citizenship but on the nationwide injunctions regarding that executive order. The court’s language suggests that we may see the court take a broader stand on nationwide injunctions in general. We’ll have to see what the implications of this decision will be. Stay tuned.