Checkmate: The Constitutional Crisis Is Here

GOP senators Tuesday said partisan, activist judges are engaged in a judicial assault on the separation of powers that strikes at the foundation of the Republic.

Sen. Josh Hawley points to the explosion of universal injunctions against Pres. Donald Trump’s term

The U.S. Congress is intervening in what Republicans call a “judicial coup” to derail the policies of Republican President Donald Trump.

A Congressional hearing was held Tuesday after months of intense conflict between two of the three co-equal branches of the U.S. government - the executive and judicial branches. The Congress is now poised to act as a tiebreaker.

The primary issue is whether a single unelected U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco or Boston should be able to issue a nationwide injunction that restricts the U.S. President’s authority and affects 340 million Americans.

Another issue is forum shopping, or the practice of filing litigation in sympathetic jurisdictions. It was generally agreed that both anti-and pro-Trump groups engage in forum shopping.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, highlighted the scale of the problem:

• Cruz said there were “zero” nationwide injunctions in the first 150 years of American history.

• Under former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, there were a combined total of 32 nationwide injunctions.

• During Trump’s first term, Cruz said, judges issued 64 nationwide injunctions were issued.

• In just four months of Trump’s second term, more than 40 nationwide injunctions have been issued.

Furthermore, Cruz said 35 of the 40 nationwide injunctions issued since January were issued by judges in just five judicial districts. Cruz disputed claims that these judges are merely following the law. He said Democrats seek out “radical judges whom they know will impose their own policy preferences.”

“This is an orchestrated campaign of judicial obstruction,” said Cruz. “Joe Biden nominated radical to the bench… [Biden] sought out radicals that would implement policymaking from the bench, and they are doing just that.”

On the Democratic side of the aisle, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, once a critic of the U.S. judiciary, has become its defender.