Supreme Court Eliminates Nationwide Injunctions, Stripping the Broadest Judicial Check on Executive Action

On June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority ruled that nationwide (universal) injunctions lack historical foundation and exceed federal courts’ authority under the Judiciary Act of 1789. The decision removes the fastest and broadest mechanism courts have used to halt unlawful executive orders: in Trump’s first 100 days of the second term, 25 universal injunctions had been issued — nearly matching the Biden administration’s four-year total. Courts can still protect individual named plaintiffs but can no longer enjoin enforcement of an executive policy against all Americans at once, forcing civil-rights litigants to build slower class-action vehicles instead.

This extends the campaign documented in 2026-03-07–trump-pushes-supreme-court-to-limit-federal-judge-power and builds on the partial restriction in Trump v. CASA (2025-06-27–supreme-court-restricts-nationwide-injunctions-trump-v-casa). Arriving the day after the Court overturned Humphrey’s Executor (2026-06-29–scotus-overturns-humphreys-executor-presidential-firing-power), it completes a structural pair: the removal ruling lets the executive capture independent agencies, and this ruling strips courts of the tool to block the resulting orders nationwide. It directly reshapes the live fights over the birthright-citizenship EO and the deportation and election orders the timeline has tracked at 2026-01-30–federal-courts-block-trump-election-executive-order-voting-rights.