Contents

• Background and Methodology
• Table of Cases

Summary

In recent years, litigation over actions of the federal executive branch has prompted discussion of the authority of federal courts to halt or prevent the enforcement of executive branch policies. One particular focus of this discussion is nationwide injunctions—injunctions against the government that prevent the government from implementing a challenged law, regulation, or other policy against all relevant persons and entities, whether or not such persons or entities are parties participating in the litigation.

Several sources provide counts of nationwide injunctions. As of February 2020, the Department of Justice had identified 12 nationwide injunctions issued during the presidency of George W. Bush, 19 issued during Barack Obama's presidency, and 55 such injunctions issued during the first Trump Administration up to that point. In April 2024, the Harvard Law Review published an article with counts of nationwide injunctions through 2023. With respect to the four most recent presidential Administrations, the article identified six nationwide injunctions issued under the George W. Bush Administration, 12 under the Obama Administration, 64 under the first Trump Administration, and 14 from the first three years of the Biden Administration. A March 2025 CRS report identified 86 nationwide injunction cases from the first Trump Administration and 28 from the Biden Administration.

This CRS report identifies nationwide injunctions issued during the second Trump Administration between January 20, 2025, and March 27, 2025. For several reasons, it is not possible to provide a single definitive count of nationwide injunctions. Most significantly, nationwide injunction is not a legal term with a precise definition, so counts may vary based on the particular definition used. In addition, there are practical challenges in searching for all nationwide injunction cases as well as methodological choices about how to count the injunctions that fit any given definition. This report explains CRS's methodology for identifying nationwide injunction cases and includes a table listing 17 cases identified using that methodology.

In recent years, litigation over actions of the federal executive branch has prompted discussion of the authority of federal courts to halt or prevent the enforcement of executive branch policies. One particular focus of this discussion is nationwide injunctions—injunctions against the government that prevent the government from implementing a challenged law, regulation, or other policy against all relevant persons and entities, whether or not such persons or entities are parties participating in the litigation.¹ Commentators, judges, lawmakers, and executive branch officials debate whether and when it is appropriate for a court to enjoin a government action in its entirety, with some arguing that nationwide injunctions are rarely or never appropriate, while others defend the practice.² In March 2025, the Acting Solicitor General filed pleadings in the Supreme Court asking the Justices to restrict lower courts' issuance of nationwide injunctions.³ Some Members of Congress have also introduced legislation that would limit nationwide injunctions.⁴

Several sources provide counts of nationwide injunctions. In a May 2019 address, then-Attorney General William Barr stated that federal courts "issued only 27 nationwide injunctions in all of the 20th century."⁵ By contrast, as of February 2020, the Department of Justice had identified 12 nationwide injunctions issued during the presidency of George W. Bush, 19 issued during Barack Obama's presidency, and 55 such injunctions issued during the first Trump Administration up to that point.⁶ In April 2024, the Harvard Law Review published an article with counts of nationwide injunctions through 2023.⁷ With respect to the four most recent presidential Administrations, the article identified six nationwide injunctions issued under the George W. Bush Administration, 12 under the Obama Administration, 64 under the first Trump Administration, and 14 from the first three years of the Biden Administration.⁸ A March 2025 CRS report identified 86 nationwide injunction cases from the first Trump Administration and 28 from the Biden Administration.⁹

This CRS report identifies nationwide injunctions issued during the second Trump Administration between January 20, 2025, and March 27, 2025.

Background and Methodology

An injunction is a form of equitable relief¹⁰ by which a court either requires an entity to take a certain action or forbids an entity from taking a certain action.¹¹ A nationwide injunction is generally defined as an injunction against the government that prevents the government from implementing a challenged law, regulation, or other policy against all relevant persons and entities, whether or not such persons or entities are parties participating in the litigation.¹² A March 2025 CRS report identifies and analyzes nationwide injunctions issued during the first Trump Administration and the Biden Administration.¹³ As discussed in more detail in that report, there are several reasons why it is not possible to provide a single definitive count of nationwide injunctions. Most significantly, nationwide injunction is not a legal term with a precise definition, so counts may vary based on the particular definition used.¹⁴ In addition, there are practical challenges in searching for all nationwide injunction cases¹⁵ and methodological choices about how to count the injunctions that fit any given definition.¹⁶

For purposes of this report, CRS:

• included only injunctions issued by federal courts;
• included only injunctions against the federal government or federal officials, not injunctions that bind states, state officials, or private parties;
• excluded class actions certified at or before the time of the injunction's issuance;¹⁷
• excluded injunctions that combine with one or more other injunctions to block a government action in its entirety but that, standing alone, do not do so;
• excluded injunctions that block a government action in its entirety with the exception of limited carveouts to defer to other courts;¹⁸
• included all forms of injunctive relief that bar the government from enforcing a policy, such as temporary restraining orders (TROs), preliminary injunctions (PIs), injunctions pending appeal, and permanent injunctions;¹⁹ and
• excluded stays and vacatur of agency actions unless the agencies were also expressly enjoined from implementing the stayed or vacated actions.²⁰

To compile the table of cases in this report, CRS searched federal cases in Westlaw for the search terms (("nationwide" OR "nation-wide") w/3 injunction) for the date range January 20, 2025, through March 27, 2025. CRS then manually reviewed results to find cases that fit the criteria outlined above. In addition, CRS reviewed news reports about nationwide injunctions and third-party websites tracking litigation against actions of the second Trump Administration²¹ and included cases that fit the criteria above but did not show up in the Westlaw search. Due to the lack of standardization in nationwide injunction cases, it is possible that there are other cases that fit this report's criteria for inclusion but were not identified via CRS's methodology. Moreover, because litigation related to implementation of executive branch policies is rapidly developing, courts could have issued additional nationwide injunctions after CRS completed its searches.

For purposes of this report, CRS counted nationwide injunctions by case. Each case (or set of consolidated cases) in which at least one nationwide injunction was issued by a federal court at any level is included as a single entry in the table. Some federal government actions were subject to nationwide injunctions in multiple cases and thus are included in the table more than once.

Using the foregoing methodology, and subject to the noted caveats, CRS has identified 17 cases in which federal courts issued nationwide injunctions between January 20, 2025, and March 27, 2025.

Table of Cases

The following table contains a list of nationwide injunctions issued during the second Trump Administration between January 20, 2025, and March 27, 2025. The Caption column in the table contains a citation to the first nationwide injunction that CRS identified in each case. Cases are listed in chronological order based on the date of issuance of the first decision cited. The Main Topic column identifies the subject matter at issue in each case. CRS categorized cases by subject matter manually. While some cases raised multiple legal and policy issues and could potentially be classified in multiple subject areas, CRS selected one primary issue area per case for ease of analysis.

Any additional nationwide injunctions that issued in each case are included in the Notes column. The Notes column also briefly identifies the government action subject to each nationwide injunction. In some cases, only a part of an executive order, guidance document, or other federal initiative was enjoined, but in each case enforcement of the enjoined portion of the challenged action was barred as to all relevant persons or entities.

The government has filed appeals in many of the listed cases. As of the date of this report, no appellate court has ruled on the validity of any of the listed nationwide injunctions. Other than noting additional nationwide injunctions in each case, the table does not include subsequent history, such as clarifying orders or stays issued by the district court or a reviewing appellate court.

Footnotes