Kerby Anderson

Both sides of the political spectrum warn that we are facing a constitutional crisis. Liberals argue that President Trump’s actions constitute a crisis. Conservatives point instead to activist judges.

Last month, the Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing titled “The Supposedly ‘Least Dangerous Branch’: District Judges v. Trump.” During the hearing, Senator Ted Cruz warned that the US is facing a “constitutional crisis—a full-blown judicial assault on the separation of powers.” He explained how these unelected district judges were abusing their authority by issuing sweeping nationwide injunctions against the President Trump’s policies.

He further explained: “In the first 150 years of the Republic, not a single nationwide injunction was issued” and that only 27 were issued in the 20th century. “Under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Biden, just 32.” He concluded that this is not normal, this is not justice.

Justices on the Supreme Court apparently agree. In a decision dealing with President Trump’s executive order with birthright citizenship, the justices ruled 6-3 that these lower court judges do not have a right to block the president’s policies nationwide. In fact, Amy Coney Barrett writing for the majority even took time to rebuke Ketanji Brown Jackson’s rhetoric because it was at odds with centuries of precedent and the Constitution itself. She noted, “We observe only this: Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary.”

The conclusion is simple. We cannot give a single federal district judge the power to stop the functions of the President and Congress who were elected by the people.