This is the win Donald Trump has been waiting for. He can’t believe it happened so quickly.
And Congress has handed Trump a key victory that has him grinning ear to ear.
House Passes Bill to Limit Federal Judges’ Power Over Trump’s Agenda
In a decisive move on Wednesday, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives approved a measure aimed at reining in federal judges’ ability to issue sweeping nationwide injunctions that have disrupted key pieces of President Donald Trump’s second-term plans.
Dubbed the “No Rogue Rulings Act,” the legislation sailed through with strong GOP support, tallying 219 Republican votes in favor and zero from Democrats. Only one Republican, Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, crossed party lines to join 212 Democrats in opposition, while a single member abstained.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) took to X this week to defend the bill, arguing it addresses a real problem. “Democrats insist there is a constitutional crisis just because they don’t like President Trump’s policies,” he wrote.
“The actual crisis is activist judges trying to single-handedly stop the President’s agenda.” The legislation now moves to the GOP-controlled Senate, where it could gain further traction.
The “No Rogue Rulings Act” tweaks U.S. Code to limit district courts’ injunction powers, ensuring their orders apply only to the specific parties in a given case. Before clearing the House Judiciary Committee last month, the bill was adjusted to permit broader injunctions—but only if approved by a trio of randomly chosen judges in cases brought by multiple states across different circuits. It also preserves a pathway for appeals to climb all the way to the Supreme Court.
Should the bill reach Trump’s desk as is, his team is ready to back it. A White House statement of administration policy praised the measure, saying, “This bill is consistent with this Administration’s commitment to preserving the separation of powers enshrined in our constitution.” Trump’s advisers have signaled he’d sign it into law.
The push comes amid a flurry of judicial roadblocks in the opening months of Trump’s new term. Federal judges have issued injunctions halting initiatives like the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and briefly pausing deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members from Tren de Aragua under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, as courts wrestle with legal challenges to federal moves.
Republicans, including the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), contend that nationwide injunctions have become a tool for thwarting Trump’s priorities. Speaking on the House floor Tuesday, Issa charged that “Left-leaning activists have cooperated with ideological judges who they have sought out to take their cases and weaponized nationwide injunctions to stall dozens of lawful executive actions and initiatives.”
He pointed to a Supreme Court decision just a day earlier, which overturned a lower court’s block on deporting alleged gang members to El Salvador, as evidence of the problem.
Democrats, however, see the legislation as a power grab. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) slammed it as a “dangerous threat to the rule of law,” arguing it’s not about curbing rogue judges but rather “enable[s] a rogue administration to continue to violate the law.”
Nadler and other Democrats warn that the bill weakens judicial checks on executive overreach.
While some GOP figures, including Trump himself, have floated ideas like impeaching judges who rule against his policies, House Republican leaders have so far opted for a legislative fix, paired with oversight hearings.
Meanwhile, the Senate isn’t sitting idle—Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) recently introduced a companion bill to “limit the authority of district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief.”
Hawley’s measure, he says, aims “to STOP liberal judges’ serial abuse of their power by BANNING nationwide injunctions.”
The House vote, initially slated for last week, hit a snag over a proxy voting dispute but was smoothed out by Speaker Johnson, paving the way for Wednesday’s passage.
Now, all eyes turn to the Senate as Trump’s allies press to reshape the judicial landscape in his favor.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
