Academic highlight: The debate over nationwide injunctions

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Academic highlight: The debate over nationwide injunctions

By Amanda Frost on Feb 1, 2018 at 10:21 am

When, if ever, should courts bar the federal government from enforcing a law against anyone, not just against the plaintiffs in the case before them? Courts have issued these types of orders — often referred to as “nationwide injunctions” — with increasing frequency over the past decade. During President Barack Obama’s administration, district courts issued such injunctions to halt policies granting deferred action to undocumented immigrants and accommodating transgender students in public schools; more recently, injunctions like these temporarily put a stop to President Donald Trump’s travel ban and blocked his rescission of deferred action for undocumented immigrantsbrought to the United States as children. Congress is considering legislation to regulate the practice, and some speculate that the Supreme Court may soon weigh in as well. In the meantime, legal scholars are debating the constitutional, systemic and policy concerns implicated by nationwide injunctions at conferences, during congressional hearings and in the pages of law reviews.

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