The Supreme Court's Latest Blow to Constitutional Rights & Common Sense

Here we go again.

The Supreme Court is out with another ruling making it harder for you to protect your rights. Meanwhile, lawyers and the media are missing an opportunity to help voters realize how important this moment is by explaining it with mind-numbing legalese like “universal injunctions” and “placing limits on how parties can seek judicial relief going forward.”

The Supreme Court’s Ruling, Explained

Let’s say the President issues an Executive Order that every voter in the country has to show proof of citizenship (like a passport or birth certificate) before they can vote. The policy applies to you, me, and everyone else in the country.

Now let’s say a few voters in DC or some other place file a lawsuit in their local federal court arguing the “proof of citizenship” rule is unconstitutional.

If the judge agrees that the rule is unfair for the DC voters who filed the lawsuit, then it’s common sense that the law is equally unfair for you and for me. It’s the same proof of citizenship law that applies to every voter in the country—whether or not we’re the ones who went to court to sue over it.

Until today’s ruling, the federal court judge in DC had the ability to project not just the DC voters who filed the case from the unconstitutional Executive Order, but also you, me, and every other voter in America.

Specifically, the judge could enter a “universal injunction” or “nationwide injunction.” This “injunction” is basically a court order meaning that when a policy or law that impacts everyone is unconstitutional in the place where one person filed a lawsuit, it’s unconstitutional everywhere else, too.

This is just common sense. It prevents a patchwork of different laws being in place across the country, and it prevents 340 million different people from having to all file lawsuits to protect their rights.

What the Future may Hold

This ruling makes it easier for those in charge to harm those with less authority.

This ruling makes it easier for the Executive Branch to grab ever-more power for itself.

This ruling further erodes our checks and balances, and makes it harder for the Judicial Branch to stall the Executive when it seeks to grab that power.

This ruling makes it harder for you to protect your rights (though some pathways still remain open for savvy litigants and capable lawyers).

This marks a huge shift in the balance of power in our government… toward the Executive Branch, away from the Judiciary, and away from the People.