Last week, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority ruled in Trump v. CASA to limit the ability of federal judges to issue universal injunctions — orders that block potentially unlawful policies nationwide until courts can decide these policies’ legality. Ali Velshi points out that although this case specifically dealt with Trump‘s executive order ending birthright citizenship, all Constitutionally-protected rights of all Americans are what’s at stake in the Supreme Court’s decision.
The Supreme Court ruled that, in most cases, judges can block policies only for the specific plaintiffs before them. This means that when an unconstitutional order or piece of legislation is enforced, we are all exposed to rights violations while lawsuits crawl through the courts in a process that can take years. This aligns with the Supreme Court’s broader pattern of expanding executive power under the Trump administration.
While most legal, historical and Constitutional experts agree that in the long run, the Supreme Court will affirm the 14th Amendment and restore birthright citizenship, while we wait for that decision, families can be torn apart, citizens can be deported — and that is just concerning this decision.
Undermining universal, nationwide injunctions and crippling a federal judge’s ability to protect our rights means we have to look elsewhere for checks and balances on executive power. Many of the tools that we would be able to use, like certifying nationwide class action lawsuits, have become harder for plaintiffs to utilize, thanks to the Supreme Court.
As Justice Sotomayor put it in her dissent, “No right is safe in the new legal regime that the Court creates.”
LISTEN: ALI VELSHI ON THE SUPREME COURT RULING IN TRUMP V. CASA
WATCH: SCOTUS STRIPS A KEY CHECK ON EXECUTIVE POWER
MORE FROM MSNBC’S ALI VELSHI
