Republican-led House passes bill to limit nationwide orders from federal district judges

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Republican-led House passes bill to limit nationwide orders from federal district judges

2025-04-10 08:10 Last Updated At：08:31

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed legislation Wednesday mostly along party lines that limits the authority of federal district judges to issue nationwide orders, as Republicans react to several court rulings against the Trump administration.

In many cases, the courts are questioning whether the firings of federal workers, freezing of federal funds and shuttering of long-running federal offices are unlawful actions by the executive branch and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The pace of nationwide injunctions has certainly increased during Donald Trump's presidency. Republicans are arguing that the increase is the result of “activist liberal judges.” Democrats counter that the courts are simply striking down illegal executive orders and actions from the Trump administration. They also note that some of the judges issuing the injunctions were nominated by Republican presidents.

The bill passed by a vote of 219-213. It limits the scope of injunctive relief ordered by a district judge to those parties before the court, rather than applying the relief nationally. But the bill is unlikely to advance through the Senate, where at least some Democratic support would be needed.

The Congressional Research Service said it's difficult to get an exact count on the number of nationwide injunctions. It's not a legal term with a precise definition, so counts vary based on methodology. But it identified 86 nationwide injunctions issued during the first Trump administration and 28 cases during Joe Biden's presidency. It found 17 nationwide injunctions as of March 27 in Trump's second term.

Republicans have rallied around the view that federal courts are overstepping and treating Trump's actions differently than those of previous presidents. Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said that a single district court judge can hold the “America First agenda hostage indefinitely” and “this must end.”

"We are experiencing a constitutional crisis, a judicial coup d’etat,” added Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo.

Democrats said that Trump's reliance on executive orders to enact his agenda and purposefully sidestep Congress are part of why the courts have weighed in more frequently against Trump.

“If you don’t like the injunctions, don’t do illegal, unconstitutional stuff. That is simple,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.

And they questioned why Republicans didn't voice similar concerns during the Biden presidency.

“Where were my colleagues when 14 federal judges appointed by Republican presidents issued injunctions against policies that the Biden administration was pursuing over the course of the last four years? Where were they? Nowhere to be found,” said Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo. “Spare me the feigned indignation.”

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who sponsored the bill, said it will deter forum shopping by groups that seek out a sympathetic district court judge most likely to block a president's actions. He also said that limiting the authority of district judges is not a partisan issue. Then-Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., sponsored a similar bill in the last Congress.

“It may be a timely issue for this president, but that does not make it partisan,” Issa said. “To do the right thing at this time is critical.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has sponsored a comparable bill, but there's little chance it could overcome a Democratic filibuster. Lawmakers are also pursuing other actions targeting the courts. Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to colleagues who set spending levels and asked them to include language in upcoming funding bills that prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to enforce “overbroad injunctions” beyond the specific parties in a case.

Jordan is also calling on them to block federal dollars from being used to compel compliance with nationwide injunctions, such as imposing fines or conducting contempt proceedings.

“These steps would reinforce the proper limits of judicial power and ensure that taxpayer resources support a judiciary that respects its constitutional role,” Jordan said.

Such restrictions would also be unlikely to clear the 60-vote threshold necessary to advance spending legislation in the Senate, though it's possible Republicans would try to attach it to a must-spend bill to keep the government open or prevent a government default.

NBA playoff guide: Who plays when, how to watch, what the odds are

2025-05-02 22:17 Last Updated At：22:20

The Eastern Conference semifinals are set: We already knew it was Cleveland vs. Indiana, and now we've got Boston vs. New York in the other bracket.

As for the Western Conference, the wait continues.

Jalen Brunson scored 40 points and the Knicks are into Round 2 of the NBA playoffs after beating Detroit in Game 6 on Thursday night, ending a series where the road team won each of the final five games.

And the Los Angeles Clippers forced a Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets, winning in LA on Thursday night to extend that series to the ultimate.

There's one game on Friday — Game 6 between Golden State and Houston, with the Warriors looking to finish off that series.

All times Eastern

9 p.m. — Houston at Golden State (ESPN)

All times Eastern

7:30 p.m. — LA Clippers at Denver (TNT)

All times Eastern

6 or 8 p.m. — Indiana at Cleveland (TNT)

8:30 p.m. — Golden State at Houston (TNT, if necessary)

(If there is no Golden State-Houston game, the Indiana-Cleveland game will start at 8 p.m.)

Oklahoma City (+150) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200). After that, it's Cleveland (+500), Golden State (+1800), Minnesota (+1800), the Los Angeles Clippers (+3000), New York (+4000), Denver (+4000), Indiana (+6600) and Houston (+12500).

On Thursday, Boston’s Jrue Holiday was named the league’s sportsmanship award winner for the second time.

Other awards so far:

— Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels won most improved player.

— San Antonio's Stephon Castle won rookie of the year.

— Golden State's Stephen Curry won the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award.

— Golden State's Draymond Green won the hustle award.

— Cleveland’s Evan Mobley won defensive player of the year.

— New York's Jalen Brunson won clutch player of the year.

— Boston's Payton Pritchard won sixth man of the year.

— Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson wins NBCA coach of the year award.

The league has not announced a schedule for other awards — including MVP and coach of the year — along with All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams.

The highest-scoring games by players so far in this year's playoffs:

43 — Jamal Murray, Denver vs. LA Clippers, April 29

43 — Anthony Edwards, Minnesota vs. LA Lakers, April 27

40 — Jalen Brunson, New York at Detroit, May 1

39 — Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers at Denver, April 21

38 — Luka Doncic, LA Lakers at Minnesota, April 27

38 — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City at Memphis, April 26

38 — LeBron James, LA Lakers at Minnesota, April 25

38 — Jalen Green, Houston vs. Golden State, April 23

Sunday — Round 2 of the playoffs starts.

May 12 — Draft lottery, Chicago.

May 18 or 20 — Game 1, Western Conference finals.

May 19 or 21 — Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.

June 5 — Game 1, NBA Finals. (Other games: June 8, June 11, June 13, June 16, June 19 and Game 7, if necessary, will be June 22.)

June 25 — NBA draft, first round.

June 26 — NBA draft, second round.

— Preview of Friday's game: Rockets-Warriors.

— Giannis Antetokounmpo has a decision to make. Stay or go?

— Tyrese Haliburton wasn't happy with his dad's postgame celebration.

— A look inside the numbers of this season, headed into the playoffs

— Detroit now has sole possession of the longest home losing streak in NBA playoff history, after extending that drought to 10 games — since 2008 — with Thursday's loss to New York. Philadelphia dropped nine straight from 1968 through 1971. Miami has lost eight straight at home in playoff games; play-in games don't count in that figure.

— The Knicks had the 20th instance in NBA history of a team going 3-0 or better in road games in a single playoff series. This doesn't include three teams — Boston, Toronto and Miami — who went 3-0 (or in the Celtics' case, 4-0) in “road” games during a series in the bubble at Walt Disney World in 2020.

— Detroit's Malik Beasley finished the season with 339 made 3-pointers, 12th-most in NBA history (including playoffs) and the most of anyone not named Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, James Harden or Luka Doncic.

— James Harden played 46 minutes, 35 seconds in the Clippers' win over Denver. That's the most he's ever logged in a non-overtime game and pushed him over the 3,000-minute mark for the season for the eighth time in his career. Among active players, only LeBron James has more 3,000-minute seasons. Thursday was only the second time he played the second, third and fourth quarters in full without a rest; the other was a Christmas Day game for Philadelphia in 2022.

— Denver's David Adelman will become the 110th Game 7 coach in NBA history (and got there in just his 10th career game). Clippers coach Tyronn Lue will look to join Red Auerbach as the only coaches to win their first five Game 7s; Lue is 4-0, Auerbach was 8-0 in his career. Lue will try to be the first coach to win three Game 7s on the road.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba