Sen. Chuck Grassley reacts to heated Franklin County town hall
The Franklin County town hall hosted by Grassley drew a crowd of more than 100 Iowans, quickly reaching the room’s capacity.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said he believes legislation is needed to limit federal judges’ use of universal injunctions as President Donald Trump’s feud with the judiciary escalates.
As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Grassley announced he will hold a hearing April 2 that will focus on “exploring legislative solutions to the bipartisan problem of universal injunctions.”
It comes as district court judges have temporarily blocked key policy rollouts from the Trump administration, including efforts to ban transgender people from serving in the military, end birthright citizenship and cull the federal workforce.
“I think the bottom line answer to the question is, we need legislation,” Grassley told reporters on a media call Wednesday.
“I doubt if any legislation should be passed that would stop all national injunctions,” he said. “But the principle here is that in most cases, an injunction… should only be against something in that judicial district and just for the people that are involved in the case. And it should only be for a temporary period of time while you’re seeking an answer to the questions.”
Grassley said judges “are to decide cases and not be policy makers.”
Trump has called for the impeachment of a federal judge who tried to stop the Trump administration from deporting hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members via the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law last used during World War II.
It drew a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, who wrote March 18 that, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
But Trump has not backed down. On March 24, he reposted an article on social media suggesting judges are guilty of “sedition and treason” when they use the court’s authority to overturn executive actions.
He has also urged Congress to take action on nationwide injunctions.
“These Judges want to assume the Powers of the Presidency, without having to attain 80 Million Votes,” he wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. “They want all of the advantages with none of the risks. Again, a President has to be allowed to act quickly and decisively about such matters as returning murderers, drug lords, rapists, and other such type criminals back to their Homeland, or to other locations that will allow our Country to be SAFE.”
Grassley said the hearing next week will be a chance “to hear the experts and discuss a path forward.”
He said he believes the issue should be bipartisan, noting that Democrats have previously complained about this issue. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, has also expressed concerns about the scope of judicial injunctions.
“In the Trump years, people used to go to the Northern District of California, and in the Biden years, they go to Texas,” Politico reported Kagan saying in 2022. “It just can’t be right that one district judge can stop a nationwide policy in its tracks and leave it stopped for the years that it takes to go through the normal process.”
Grassley told his Senate colleagues Tuesday that the problem has been around for a number of years, “but particularly in the last few months, we’ve seen increasingly sweeping, potentially lawless orders coming from any one of our 600 district judges out of the 93 districts we have.”
“Although our founders saw an important role for the judiciary, individual district judges have empowered themselves to become nationwide policymakers, as opposed to interpreting the law,” he said. “I consider this as very dangerous.”
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected] or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.