Thune Says Senate GOP Has Plan To Fight Back Against Activist Judges

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Senate Republicans are mulling legislation to address the historic number of federal rulings blocking key parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda from being implemented nationwide.

Thune expressed dismay at district courts’ unprecedented use of universal injunctions to halt the administration’s directives from going into effect across the country during Trump’s second term, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The majority leader said that he is eager to work with Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley to find a legislative solution, but cautioned that passing legislation could hinge on getting enough buy-in from Senate Democrats due to the 60-vote legislative filibuster.

Thune criticized district courts issuing sweeping injunctions that have effectively paralyzed the Trump administration from  implementing its policies and suggested that district judges may be overstepping their constitutional powers with the growing number of nationwide injunctions.

Federal district court judges issued 25 nationwide injunctions halting Trump’s policies from going into effect anywhere in the country during the first 100 days of the president’s second term, according to a May report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. District court judges conversely issued just four nationwide injunctions during the first 100 days of former President Joe Biden’s term and six during the first 100 days of Trump’s first term.

Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued in March that district courts issued more nationwide injunctions in February 2025 alone than during the first three years of the Biden administration.

“A lot of district courts are essentially policy making for the entire country and that’s not what they were designed to do when they were created under the Constitution,” Thune told the DCNF. “I don’t think anybody anticipated that you have a district court that would be making policy for all 50 states.”

Congressional Republicans have introduced multiple pieces of legislation to curtail the authority of federal district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions since January.

The House of Representatives passed Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa’s No Rogue Rulings Act mostly along party lines in April. The bill would restrict the issuance of nationwide injunctions in most cases before district courts. Issa and House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan called on the Senate to take up the House-passed legislation in an op-ed published earlier in June. It would need the support of at least seven Democratic senators to clear the upper chamber.

Thune signaled his support for Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley’s legislation, which would prohibit universal injunctions by restricting federal court orders to parties directly before them and require plaintiffs requesting universal relief to file a class action lawsuit.

“We’re anxious to work with him and in trying to come up with ways of addressing this,” Thune told the DCNF.

Grassley’s Judicial Relief Clarification Act has thus far not passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A spokesperson for the committee did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s inquiry about the status of the legislation.

The majority leader advised that legislation addressing nationwide injunctions could die in the Senate if Republicans fail to get bipartisan support for the measure. The Senate’s legislative filibuster requires most legislation to net 60 votes to advance to a vote on final passage.

Thune has repeatedly committed to preserving the filibuster amid Senate Democrats flip-flopping on the issue since they’ve lost their majority.

“The House is obviously in a position to act because they can do it with 218 [votes],” Thune said. “For us, this would take 60.”

“We want to make sure that if it comes out of the committee and it comes to the floor, that we have a decent chance of having success with it,” Thune added. “But it would, if nothing else, at least make the point that this is a practice —it’s gotten way out of proportion and needs to be dealt with — and let the Democrats try to defend it.”

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in May regarding district courts’ nationwide injunctions on the administration’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants born in the United States. The Court could rein in district court judges’ ability to issue sweeping injunctions, a potential development which Thune appeared to welcome.