FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, April 7, 2025
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With Republicans poised to consider the No Rogue Rulings Act of 2025 (NORRA) this week, let’s take a deep dive into their hypocrisy on the constitutional separation of powers. If passed, NORRA would bar U.S. district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions, limiting their jurisdiction to provide injunctive relief to parties to the case or the circuit in which the district is located.
Donald Trump’s MAGA minions only want to limit national injunctions now that judges across the country are putting a stop to the lawlessness of his executive branch. Under Presidents Biden and Obama, Republicans praised right-wing judges who issued nationwide injunctions halting parts of the former presidents’ agendas.
Here are just five examples of Republican injunction hypocrisy over the past decade:
1. FDA Approval of Mifepristone. In April 2023, a GOP-appointed Texas district judge issued a nationwide injunction pausing FDA approval of the prescription medication mifepristone, a safe, effective way to induce abortion. Senator Josh Hawley, who introduced NORRA in the Senate in the first place, had a deep connection to the case – his spouse was the lead attorney behind the 2023 lawsuit, and Hawley himself voted to confirm the district judge to his court seat.
2. The Biden Administration’s Student Debt Relief Plan. In November 2022, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a nationwide injunction halting the Biden administration’s student loan debt relief program from taking effect, with two Bush appointees and a Trump appointee ordering that “The injunction will remain in effect until further order of this court or the Supreme Court of the United States.” The request for a nationwide injunction was spearheaded by six Republican-led states with Republican attorneys general. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt called the injunction a “big win for our office and Americans across the country.”
3. Biden Administration EPA Rules on the Social Cost of Carbon. In February 2022, a Louisiana federal judge issued a nationwide injunction barring the Biden administration from enforcing a rule requiring all federal agencies to account for the real-world costs of climate change, the social cost of carbon, before making executive actions. Republicans praised the injunction, including sitting Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), who released a statement saying, “Even in the face of a global energy crisis, historic inflation, and skyrocketing gasoline prices, the Biden administration continues to crush U.S. energy production.”
4. The Obama Administration’s Civil Rights Protections For Transgender Students Using School Bathrooms. In August 2016, a Texas district judge issued a nationwide injunction blocking an executive directive from the Obama administration requiring schools to allow transgender students to use restroom and locker facilities that align with their gender identity. Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alongside 12 other Republican Attorneys General representing Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arizona, Maine, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Utah, Georgia, Mississippi and Kentucky, led the case, and celebrated the nationwide injunction: “We are pleased that the court ruled against the Obama administration’s latest illegal federal overreach.”
5. The Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program. In February 2015, a Texas district judge issued a nationwide injunction against the Obama administration’s DACA and DAPA programs, blocking the federal government from granting immigrants brought to the U.S. as children legal status, protection, and work permits. Republicans in Congress celebrated the ruling at the time, including the then-chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration.
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About the Congressional Integrity Project: The Congressional Integrity Project is dedicated to ensuring that Congress fulfills its proper oversight role in a manner that serves the public interest rather than partisan political goals. We work to promote accountability, transparency, and integrity in congressional investigations and oversight activities.