# Nationwide Injunction A **nationwide (or "universal") injunction** is a court order that blocks the federal government from enforcing a policy (a regulation, an executive order, a statute) **against anyone, anywhere**, not just the parties who sued. Issued by a single district judge, it can freeze a national policy the day it is announced. That is why challengers file in courts they expect to be friendly. The Supreme Court sharply limited the remedy in [[Trump v. CASA]] (June 27, 2025). ## History Scholars disagree about where it starts. Samuel Bray, whose 2017 *Harvard Law Review* article ("Multiple Chancellors") launched the modern critique, dates the first to *Wirtz v. Baldor Electric Co.* (D.C. Cir. 1963). Mila Sohoni points to earlier examples (1913, and *Pierce v. Society of Sisters*, 1925). Either way the remedy was rare for most of the 20th century; Attorney General Barr said in 2019 there had been "only 27" in the whole century. It exploded in the 2010s. ## The counts The numbers differ by source, so each is given separately: | Source | Bush | Obama | Trump I | Biden | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:| | *Harvard Law Review* (2024) | 6 | 12 | 64 | 14 (first 3 years) | | Justice Department (2020) | 12 | 19 | 55 | — | | CRS | — | — | 86 | 28 | The second Trump administration drew **25** in its first 100 days (CRS), against 6 in Trump's first 100 days in 2017 and 4 in Biden's. ## A bipartisan weapon The remedy follows the White House. By the *Harvard Law Review*'s count, 92% of the injunctions against Trump's first-term policies came from Democratic-appointed judges, and all of those against Biden's came from Republican appointees. The venues followed too: the Northern District of California and D.C. under Trump, and Texas under Biden. The emblem of the Biden years was Judge [[Matthew Kacsmaryk]], the only judge in the Amarillo division, whose 2023 nationwide order against the abortion pill mifepristone made "judge shopping" a Democratic complaint. - **Gorsuch, 2020:** in *DHS v. New York*, Justice Gorsuch wrote that universal injunctions produce "gamesmanship and chaos" and are "patently unworkable." - **Random assignment, 2024:** on March 12, 2024 the Judicial Conference recommended that cases seeking statewide or nationwide relief be randomly assigned across a whole district. It is not binding. The Northern District of Texas declined to change its practice "at this time." ## After CASA Universal relief survives by other routes. Challengers now use **Rule 23 class actions**, as in the birthright case, and **vacatur under the [[Administrative Procedure Act]]**, which Justice Kavanaugh has defended. States also sue on their own behalf. The practical effect is that the Supreme Court's emergency docket now settles the interim status of most major policies. ## See also - [[Trump v. CASA]] · [[Trump v. Barbara]] · [[How an Executive Order Is Issued and Challenged]] - [[Executive Order 14160]] · [[Matthew Kacsmaryk]] · [[Administrative Procedure Act]]