Thursday, September 20, 2018

FINALLY: House Judiciary Committee seeks to limit runaway judicial power

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Yes, one House committee is finally stepping onto the field in the one-sided battle against judicial tyranny. After years of endless legislative fiat from single district and circuit judges, the House Judiciary Committee is voting this week on a bill that clarifies once and for all that courts do not have the power to issue injunctions against abstract policies and statutes outside the parties before that particular court. Now the only question is whether the Republicans will unite behind a cogent message of keeping legislation within the legislature and place this provision in the budget bill or at least bring it to a vote before the full House and Senate.
The president’s first year and a half in office has been marred by the erroneous belief within the political system that the ACLU can shop for a judge who agrees with it on policy and use a straw-man plaintiff to veto abstract policies. That single judge, typically shopped around to a circuit where the plaintiff will automatically win the appeal, ensures that commonsense policies well within the purview of the political branches are shut down indefinitely at the flick of the wrist from one judge until the Supreme Court is willing to take the appeal, which could take months or years. Even if the other side secures a victory at the Supreme Court, the Left continues to shop around to the same district judges a new case with a slight nuance and starts the cycle all over again.
Ending universal injunctions
H.R. 6730 would simply clarify that no federal court can issue injunctive relief outside the parties before that court. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., is just one paragraph. It categorically ends the practice of universal injunctions for all courts, even the Supreme Court. In other words, it doesn’t just limit a court’s reach to its geographical jurisdiction (for example, barring district or circuit courts from issuing injunctions outside their respective territories) but even outside the parties themselves.
Thus, the minute a court renders an opinion in a case, it wouldn’t instantaneously become a law or a veto binding on everyone. That is the plain understanding of the judicial power, as distinguished from the legislative power or an executive veto, at least until the recent era of judicial supremacy.
It would have been useful for the bill to go a step further and tighten up the rules for class action lawsuits. There is some concern that even after this bill, judges will be more liberal in certifying a class, thereby making everyone a party to the lawsuit and ostensibly shut down a policy nationwide. For example, when rendering a liberal opinion for an illegal alien, judges could certify all illegals as a class. However, this is a welcome start and may serve as the first step in Congress finally reining in the courts. The question now is whether House leadership will allow an immediate vote on the floor.
Read the rest from Daniel Horowitz HERE and follow a link to a related story below:

Republicans Take Aim at Judges Issuing Nationwide Rulings

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