Nationwide injunctions are un-American — the Supreme Court must halt them

 Seventy-seven million Americans elected Donald Trump last November. They elected him to make us safer, to restore law and order, and to return common sense to our country.  

Since his inauguration, President Trump has carried out his promises to the American people, issuing executive orders on a range of policy objectives. That’s how it should work in our country — the people choose the president and the president directs the executive branch to enact his agenda. 

In the opening months of the second Trump administration, however, we’ve seen a new resistance to Trump’s policies. This resistance is anti-democratic and contrary to the rule of law. And it’s coming from within the federal judiciary. 

Since Trump took office, federal district court judges have issued more than 40 nationwide injunctions blocking his agenda. That’s on top of 64 issued during his first term, representing a majority of all the nationwide injunctions ever issued in American history. 

Often filed by liberal activists before sympathetic judges in carefully selected jurisdictions, a nationwide injunction enjoins conduct across the entire country. In this way, it departs from the proper role of a court in adjudicating a particularized dispute between clearly identified parties.  

Nationwide injunctions have no basis in American legal traditions or English common law. They violate principles of judicial restraint. And their increased use has serious consequences for constitutional order. 

The Constitution limits judicial power to only those “cases” and “controversies” before the courts. That makes sense. Judges shouldn’t be issuing decisions that constrain people who never even set foot in the courtroom. But with a nationwide injunction, one federal judge can block a policy affecting millions, creating a judicial policy veto that is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. 

Beyond these clear constitutional problems, nationwide injunctions hurt the uniform and efficient administration of justice. These injunctions, especially when issued as temporary restraining orders, don’t allow for thorough fact-finding, meaning appellate courts wind up reviewing an incomplete and inaccurate record. They also unfairly benefit special-interest plaintiffs who file identical suits in multiple jurisdictions, because the plaintiffs need only succeed in convincing one court, while the government must successfully defend every case in every jurisdiction.

The rise of nationwide injunctions, and their obvious abuses during the first four months of the Trump administration, demand a response. 

In the House of Representatives, we’ve passed a bill drafted by Rep. Issa that would restrict a federal judge’s ability to issue a nationwide injunction. It’s up to the Senate to send it to the president’s desk. The Judiciary Committee and its Courts Subcommittee, which we respectively chair, have held hearings and done oversight about the abuse of nationwide injunctions. We’ve urged congressional appropriators to use the power of the purse to force the judiciary to make reforms. And our work isn’t done. 

But the institution that’s best positioned to stop the abuse of nationwide injunctions sits just across from the Capitol Building. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week about nationwide injunctions in an immigration case. That appeal gives the court a chance to rein in the abuse of such injunctions and force lower-court judges to stick to their proper constitutional role.  

In his confirmation hearing before the Senate, Chief Justice John Roberts famously equated the job of a judge to that of a baseball umpire — calling balls and strikes, and nothing more. Applying his metaphor, a nationwide injunction would mean that an umpire’s ball-and-strike call in Cleveland would apply to the game in San Diego, in Houston, and everywhere else. That wouldn’t fly in our national past-time and it shouldn’t be acceptable in our nation’s courtrooms.  

Our nation is the greatest because “We the People” have the ultimate authority. We are blessed to live in a democracy where the policy decisions are made by those elected to office — not by unaccountable bureaucrats or unelected judges. The policy agenda of a president elected by 77 million people shouldn’t hinge on the separate approvals of 677 unelected district court judges. The Supreme Court must end the abuse of nationwide injunctions. 

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) oversees the House Judiciary Committee; Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) chairs its Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet. 

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5337611-trump-judicial-challenges-and-nationwide-injunctions/

Gavin Newsom and His Cruel Notion of ‘Cruel’

 by Victor Davis Hanson

Recently, Gov. Newsom weighed in on the Trump administration’s efforts to undo the last four years of border destruction, when an estimated 10-12 million illegal aliens entered the U.S. unlawfully—among them thousands with criminal records.

Of the recent Los Angeles efforts of ICE to detain those who entered and reside here illegally, the governor proclaimed:

“Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy.”

Dissect that statement, and almost everything Newsom said was either not factual or misleading.

“Chaotic?” What is chaotic is allowing 12 million unaudited migrants into the U.S. ahead of those waiting years for background checks and legal permission.

The current antidote to a truly chaotic, nonexistent border was to bring some legality and order back to immigration—and not to perpetuate a wild-west border, drug smuggling, cartel profiteering, and child trafficking and abandonment, which were the Biden-era norms.

Chaotic is 1,000 rioters in southern California swarming ICE officers, endangering their safety and lives—and then being contextualized, excused, or even supported by the governor of the state, who supposedly is an upholder of our laws and their enforcement.

Each time Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom side with violent protests and the intimidation of ICE officers, the greater the chance that an officer will be seriously injured or killed—and the violence will spike. Apparently, both think they are riding a wave of public support, when in fact the latest CBS poll found 54 percent of Americans support such deportations.

California’s elected officials seem clueless that the optics of illegal immigrants torching autos, attacking law enforcement, or pelting bystanders, while waving Mexican flags, are terrible. What is the logic of waving the flag of the country to which one is violently opposed to returning, while assaulting the officers and infrastructure of the very nation in which one is demanding to remain?

“Arbitrary arrest quota?” Consider the math. In just four years, Biden allowed between 10–12 million illegal entries, or 2.5–3 million a year, or somewhere between 200,000–300,000 per month, or between 7,000–8,300 a day.

Trying to find, audit, and deport even 10–20 percent of that daily figure, or 800–2000 a day over four years, is not an “arbitrary arrest quota.”

It is instead a formidable but often vain effort to return illegal immigration numbers to where they were before Biden’s systemic lawlessness.

In other words, with the current level of deportations, ICE cannot possibly reduce the population of illegal aliens back to the pre-Biden range of 10–12 million resident illegal aliens before the additional and contrived 10–12 million four-year influx.

In Newsom’s world, how many million breaking the laws and swarming the border are acceptable? Ten, twelve, or twenty million?

“Reckless?” What is reckless is destroying the southern border. Reckless is also allowing an unchecked amount of cartel fentanyl, disguised as prescription or less toxic illicit drugs, to kill 70,000–100,000 Americans per year.

Reckless is empowering the cartels with lucrative trafficking fees for facilitating illegal immigration across a destroyed border.

Reckless is drumming out of the military 8,500 American soldiers who balked at the experimental mRNA vaccine while allowing more than 10 million illegal aliens to flood the border without any medical or inoculation scrutiny.

Reckless is demanding 2–3 forms of independent IDs from U.S. citizens to qualify for the required “real ID” to fly, while allowing tens of thousands of illegal aliens to be exempt from even rudimentary identification.

Reckless is a governor leveling the highest income tax rates in the U.S., the highest gas taxes, among the highest aggregate sales taxes, and still ending up with annual multibillion-dollar deficits.

Reckless is driving 200,000–300,000 middle-class taxpayers out of the state every year, who cannot afford sky-high California prices and receive so few services in return for such high state taxes.

“Cruel?” Cruel is overtaxing state social service facilities with hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals, whose sheer numbers imperil the health care of California’s own beleaguered citizen population.

As far as ‘cruel’ governance, perhaps it is defined as the highest gas prices in the nation while sitting atop some of the largest gas and oil reserves in the country. Cruel is watching poor people in Fresno or Tulare County buy gas in increments of $30 in cash rather than filling up their pickups at a prohibitive cost of $130.

Cruel is the California high-speed rail boondoggle that has wasted nearly $30 billion without a single foot of track rail installed and may well be abandoned—its concrete overpasses now testaments to our modern Stonehenge monoliths.

Cruel are the state’s ossified “freeways”—especially the 101, the 99, and I-5—that have remained unchanged for the last half century and record some of the deadliest traffic statistics per mile driven in the U.S.

Cruel is what the state and city of Los Angeles did to their own residents during the recent fires.

Cruel is a derelict mayor—shamelessly attacking those who are trying to enforce federal law—junketing in Ghana of all places at the height of the fire season. Mayor Bass has about as much concern over violent protestors burning cars in Los Angeles as she did for neighborhoods burning while she junketed in Ghana.

Cruel was the Los Angeles deputy mayor (tasked with public safety, no less), who was arrested and convicted for reporting fake anti-Israel bomb threats.

Cruel was the Los Angeles water and power director who allowed a life-saving reservoir to remain abandoned and empty.

Cruel was the fire chief who obsessed over DEI hiring while leaving scores of fire hydrants across the city inoperative.

Cruel were state directives that prevented sane clearing of brush kindling that guaranteed plentiful fuel to ensure an inferno among Pacific Palisades homes.

Cruel were the Coastal Commission and the city of Los Angeles that make it almost impossible to rebuild burned-out homes promptly.

Cruel are destructive regulatory policies that have driven out of the state everything from Tesla to refineries to insurance companies, ensuring that the struggling and vanishing middle classes cannot afford the staples of life.

Cruel are the roughly 40,000 annual traffic accidents in Los Angeles County, after which the culpable drivers often flee the scene of the accident. Does the governor or mayor ever ask why that is so, or worry over the some 8,000 victims who are killed or injured?

Cruel are the state’s “renewable energy” mandates that have skyrocketed the cost of electricity and impoverished state residents—one in four of whom now default on their monthly power bills.

Cruel is the boutique leftism of a generation of elite multimillionaire Bay Area politicians—from Jerry Brown to Nancy Pelosi to Gavin Newsom—whose wealth, office-holding, influence, and zip codes ensured that they were never subject to the baleful consequences of their virtue-signaling ideologies that fell only on distant and vulnerable others.

Trust? Who could trust the state of California, which has become a bifurcated medieval society of the very rich and the subsidized poor, with a complete disdain for the struggling middle class who cannot afford houses, power, fuel, or insurance?

“Undermining?” Undermining is better defined as a governor and mayor deliberately ignoring or nullifying federal law in neo-Confederate fashion and siding with violent protestors, while offering the offenders implicit assurances of impunity.

https://amgreatness.com/2025/06/09/gavin-newsom-and-his-cruel-notion-of-cruel/

Israel Unveils Unprecedented Transfer To Ukraine Of 'Several' Patriot Missile Batteries

 In early May it was first reported that a US-supplied Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel would be refurbished and sent to Ukraine. This was despite what the White House's National Security Council said at the time in a statement: "President Trump has been clear: he wants the war in Ukraine to end and the killing to stop."

But American and Western arms for Ukraine have continued flowing, with no end in sight, despite what was a very brief stoppage of maybe a couple days earlier in Trump's term. Israel has just revealed that it wasn't merely "one" Patriot battery transferred to Ukraine, but "several".

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky unveiled in a Sunday interview with Pravda USA that Israel has delivered several MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to Kiev, in a clear significant escalation in its military support to the Zelensky government.

During the opening years of the war Israel largely remained on the sidelines, for fear of damaging sensitive relations with Russia, which has maintained a military presence on the Mediterranean, along Syria's coast. But times have changed, and Russia could be packing up its Syrian naval and air bases, given the December overthrow of its ally Assad and the Jolani regime being installed in Damascus.

Ambassador Brodsky told the Ukrainian media publication (according to machine translation):

The Patriot systems that we once received from the United States are now in Ukraine. These are Israeli systems that were in service with Israel in the early 90s. We agreed to transfer them to Ukraine. And unfortunately, not much was said about this. But when they say that Israel did not help militarily, this is not true. This is not true," Brodsky emphasized.

This appears to be confirmation of what Axios reported in late January:

The U.S. military transferred around 90 Patriot air defense interceptors from storage in Israel to Poland this week in order to deliver them to Ukraine, three sources with knowledge of the operation tell Axios.

These are apparently older US-supplied systems which remained in Israel's stockpile. Still, the NY Times had presented that merely one Patriot battery was being prepped, in this May 4 report for example:

A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, declined to describe President Trump’s view of the decision to transfer more Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Israel is perhaps only making this public now in the context of Russia's air war against Ukrainian cities, and the capital in particular, heating up.

Israel gave its Patriot batteries to Ukraine, Israeli ambassador to Kyiv says in a TV interview. https://t.co/4DJArTlWOx

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 9, 2025

Tel Aviv is also facing unprecedented international scrutiny over the ongoing Gaza war, and no doubt wants a PR 'win' in the eyes of European nations, some of which are poised to recognize a Palestinian state. Israel seems to be jumping on in support of the European 'coalition of the willing' bandwagon, and wants the world to know this.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-unveils-unprecedented-military-transfer-ukraine-several-patriot-batteries

It’s ‘a small part of LA’ is latest media refrain to minimize violent mobs

 Get ready for the 2025 version of “mostly peaceful protest.” 

It’s “a small part of the city.”

Even liberal media know it looks bad when Mexican flag-waving punks are wearing skull masks and setting fire to cars. It’s hard to paint President Trump as a fascist when protesters from another country are inciting violence and looting. They’re desperate to minimize what’s going on, to suggest that it’s Trump who is inflaming the situation and not the rioters themselves.

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A man holds a Mexican flag as smoke and flames rise from burning vehicles during a protest against federal immigration sweeps, near Los Angeles City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, California, June 8, 2025.REUTERS

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A burned US flag on the ground amid clashes with law enforcement.AFP via Getty Images

When the George Floyd riots descended into mayhem, the constant refrain on CNN was “a mostly peaceful protest.” A few bad apples burned that police station, yes, but that’s not the full story. 

This time around, they’re going geographic.

“Federal agents clashed with protesters in the Los Angeles area for a third day, and hundreds of National Guard troops were deployed,” the New York Times wrote. “But much of the sprawling city operated as usual.”

The Times even wrote a story, “Life goes on in the city,”  remarking on all the parades and events happening in the 18 million-person Los Angeles area at the same time as the clashes, as if that was even relevant. 

The framing is spreading, as these things usually do. Monday morning’s Axios report said, “The clashes between police and protesters were centered in several blocks of downtown — a small slice of the city.”

Ah, a small slice. Guess shutting down the 101 Freeway and burning Waymo cars isn’t that big a deal — everything’s fine in Santa Monica! 

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Demonstrators wave flags from atop a wrecked car, standing beside burning Waymo vehicles, as protesters clash with law enforcement in the streets surrounding the federal building during a protest following federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.AFP via Getty Images
Imagine if all news were treated this way. Murder in Queens, but in Brooklyn, life goes on. Hurricanes in Florida, but that’s just a small slice of the United States.

The motives are so transparent they are laughable. The media want to diminish and distract, but for the rest of us, reality goes on.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/09/opinion/its-a-small-part-of-la-is-latest-media-refrain-to-minimize-violent-mobs/

Google's Waymo Pauses Services in Los Angeles Due to Protests

 Multiple Waymo cars were vandalized and set on fire in Los Angeles on Sunday, as anti-ICE protests escalated across the city.

Aerial footage shows the electric, self-driving cars engulfed in flames with sparks shooting out from one vehicle. Another video shows the aftermath, with the charred metal remains of five Waymo vehicles splayed across a Los Angeles street.

Waymo has removed its vehicles from downtown Los Angeles and is suspending service in the area where the incidents occurred, out of an abundance of caution, a spokesperson for the ride-hailing service told CBS MoneyWatch. The company is still operating in other parts of Los Angeles.

"We do not believe our vehicles were intentionally targeted, but rather happened to be present during the protests," the spokesperson said in an email.

Waymo is owned by Google parent Alphabet. In addition to Los Angeles, the autonomous car company also offers it ride-hailing service in Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay, according to its website.

Ricky Montanez, who covered the incident for CBS Los Angeles, said it took a while for the Los Angeles Police Department to arrive on the chaotic scene on Sunday.

The LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment by CBS News.

Protests in California's capital began Saturday after ICE raids in the Los Angeles Fashion District, and escalated on Sunday following President Trump's decision to deploy at least 300 U.S. National Guard troops to the city  — a move California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called illegal.

In addition to setting Waymo cars on fire, protestors also damaged and looted several businesses on Sunday including Jordan Studio 23, a sporting goods store in downtown L.A., as well as a T-Mobile and an Adidas store, according to CBS Los Angeles.

LAPD has advised businesses in the area to report any damage to the police. "Please photograph all vandalism and damage prior to clean up," the department posted on its X account.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/waymo-suspends-downtown-los-angeles-175343530.html