The activist judiciary is getting out of hand. Now it’s setting up for a showdown.
Because a federal judge just brought Trump’s agenda to a screeching halt.
Data reveals a striking trend: over half of all nationwide injunctions slapped on the federal government since 1963 rained down during President Trump’s first term.
These court orders, which slam the brakes on policies or laws with nationwide ripple effects—far beyond just the courtroom players—hit Trump’s administration hard.
Out of 127 total nationwide injunctions since 1963, Trump’s first stint in office racked up 64, according to the April 2024 Harvard Law Review.
Compare that to the 32 combined injunctions dished out to the Bush, Obama, and Biden administrations since 2001—Trump’s team took double the heat of those three put together. The breakdown? Six for Bush, 12 for Obama, and 14 for Biden.
Now back in the White House as of January, Trump’s facing a fresh barrage—over 120 lawsuits from activists, government workers, and others gunning for his executive moves.
Some have already scored nationwide injunctions, with 15 landing in February alone, per acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris.
On Thursday, Trump fired off an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, pushing to shrink three injunctions blocking his bid to axe birthright citizenship. He wants them limited to just the folks directly tied to those courts.
Harris, in the appeal, called the flood of nationwide injunctions an “epidemic” under Trump’s second term, pointing out that Biden’s first three years saw 14, while Trump’s crew got hit with 15 in a single month.
“Years of experience have shown that the Executive Branch cannot properly perform its functions if any judge anywhere can enjoin every presidential action everywhere,” she argued.
Back in Trump’s first go-round, his team—including top Justice Department brass—fumed over the relentless injunction wave. Former Assistant Attorney General Beth Williams laid it out in February 2019:
“Courts issued an average of only 1.5 nationwide injunctions per year against the Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations, and 2.5 per year against the Obama administration. In President Trump’s first year in office, however, judges issued a whopping 20 nationwide injunctions – an eightfold increase. This matches the entire eight-year total of such injunctions issued against President Obama during his two terms. We are now at 30, matching the total number of injunctions issued against the first 42 presidents combined.”
Former Attorney General Bill Barr piled on later that year, noting, “Since President Trump took office, federal district courts have issued 37 nationwide injunctions against the Executive Branch. That’s more than one a month.”
“By comparison, during President Obama’s first two years, district courts issued two nationwide injunctions against the Executive Branch, both of which were vacated by the Ninth Circuit.”
“And according to the Department’s best estimates, courts issued only 27 nationwide injunctions in all of the 20th century.”
The Harvard Law Review dug deeper, revealing a partisan twist: 92.2% of the injunctions against Trump’s first term came from Democratic-appointed judges—leaving just five of the 64 from Republican picks.
Flip the script to Biden’s era, and all 14 injunctions came from GOP-appointed judges. The Bush and Obama years? More of a mixed bag—50% of Bush-era injunctions from Democrats, and 58.3% of Obama’s 12 from Republicans.
