Order in the Court
Iowa’s Sen. Charles Grassley is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and yesterday introduced the Judicial Relief Clarification Act of 2025 “ in response to some of the lower court actions of late. And while the act may have been triggered by federal district judges ruling against Trump Administration executive orders, there are concepts that should be agreed to on a bipartisan basis.
For example, it forbids federal courts from issuing sweeping orders against the federal government that apply nationwide, even though the court’s jurisdiction may only be a small geographic area. In other words, many have asked me how a single federal judge in a district issue an order that applies to 320 million people…and under this law, that judge couldn’t. We learned all about “forum shopping” in law school…the idea that you file your action in the jurisdiction most favorable to your case. With the Trump orders, you pick the most liberal (or anti-Trump) judge you can find, file your action, and wait for the outcome you want to be ordered. This provision of the bill would limit that forum shopping.
It would also require anyone seeking a national order to certify the case using a class action process. That simply means if you are claiming that there is a broad group of people being harmed, you actually have to sign them up for the lawsuit, no different than in a products liability case.
It makes any temporary restraining orders immediately appealable, which strengthens the appellate review process and eliminates weeks- and months-long delays.
There’s more to it, but you get the idea. And what business does Congress have regulating the Courts like that? It comes directly from the Constitution, which established a Supreme Court, but left it up to Congress to establish whatever “inferior” courts—inferior in standing to the Supreme Court—are needed. So if Congress sets up the lower court structure, and approves the judges…it certainly can set rules of procedure.
And remember, this would not have been necessary had our courts operated under the blind justice concept we thought they were using. Some folks always go too far.
