Thune Says Senate GOP Has Strategy To Challenge Activist Judges

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Senate Republicans are mulling legislation to address the historic number of federal rulings blocking key parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda from being implemented nationwide.

Thune expressed dismay at district courts’ unprecedented use of universal injunctions to halt the administration’s directives from going into effect across the country during Trump’s second term, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The majority leader said that he is eager to work with Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley to find a legislative solution but cautioned that passing legislation could hinge on getting enough buy-in from Senate Democrats due to the 60-vote legislative filibuster.

Thune criticized district courts issuing sweeping injunctions that have effectively paralyzed the Trump administration from implementing its policies and suggested that district judges may be overstepping their constitutional powers with the growing number of nationwide injunctions.

Federal district court judges issued 25 nationwide injunctions halting Trump’s policies from going into effect anywhere in the country during the first 100 days of the president’s second term, according to a May report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. District court judges conversely issued just four nationwide injunctions during the first 100 days of former President Joe Biden’s term and six during the first 100 days of Trump’s first term.

Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued in March that district courts issued more nationwide injunctions in February 2025 alone than during the first three years of the Biden administration.