courts have blocked President Trump's executive orders at a particularly high rate.

[noumoe]

It's true, as the White House claims, that the courts have blocked President Trump's executive orders at a particularly high rate.

It's also true, as White House's critics argue, that simply ignoring those rulings would undermine checks and balances established by the Constitution.

The big picture: Trump and his White House aren't alone in their frustration with district-court judges blocking major parts of their agenda.

Presidents Obama and Biden also had major policies blocked by the same type of rulings. Legal scholars from both sides of the aisle have criticized the rapid rise of such sweeping orders.

Lawsuits against the federal government start in a district court — there are more than 600 district-court judges — then can move to an appeals court, then the Supreme Court.

In the old days, district courts' rulings only applied to the parties before them. But since the beginning of the Obama administration, those judges have become increasingly willing to say their rulings apply nationwide — the same scope a Supreme Court decision has.

By the numbers: District courts issued 12 rulings freezing Obama administration policies, according to a Harvard Law Review tally — a record at the time.

That leapt to 64 in President Trump's first term. District courts also blocked many of President Biden's signature policy proposals, including student-loan forgiveness.

At least 15 universal (nationwide) injunctions have been issued against Trump's second-term policies.

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/23/trump- ... njunctions