Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced bills intended to limit the ability of federal district court judges to issue orders against the executive branch.
Lee’s Restraining Judicial Activists Act of 2025 would amend the United States Code to “establish special procedures for civil actions seeking to restrain executive branch actions.”
Under the bill, a three-judge court would be created to oversee rulings on matters opposing the executive branch. “No temporary restraining order, stay, preliminary injunction, or other equitable relief may be granted … unless a majority of the district court for the action orders that such relief be granted,” the bill states.
“No single judge shall appoint a master, or order a reference to a magistrate judge, or hear and determine applications for preliminary or permanent relief,” the legislation notes.
Lee said of the bill that “America’s government cannot function if the legitimate orders of our Commander in Chief can be overridden at the whim of a single district court judge.”
“They have presumed to run the military, the civil service, foreign aid, and HR departments across the Executive Branch—blatantly unconstitutional overreach. This legislation will create a judicial panel to expedite Supreme Court review of these blanket injunctions, preventing unelected radicals in robes from sabotaging the separation of powers,” he said.
Hawley’s bill, called the Nationwide Injunction Abuse Prevent Act of 2025,” also seeks to amend the United States Code to “limit the authority of district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief.” The legislation seeks to ban district court judges from issuing injunctions with a nationwide application.
The bill would “clarify that a district judge’s order only applies to the parties in the case, or within the local judicial district—not to the entire nation,” Hawley’s office explained in a press release.
Hawley similarly criticized unelected district judges who are “usurping the authority of a duly-elected president and dictating national policy for 330 million Americans,” he said in a statement. “Congress must stop this unconstitutional weaponization of the judiciary. My bill would be a critical step toward doing just that.”
The bills come as judges have issued several orders against the Trump administration’s actions pertaining to deporting Venezuelan gang members and reducing the federal workforce.
