MSNBC legal analyst bummed SCOTUS limited ability of district judges to hamstring Trump admin

MSNBC legal analyst Melissa Murray on Friday expressed displeasure with the Supreme Court for limiting lower courts’ power to block President Donald Trump’s administration’s policies through nationwide injunctions.

The court ruled 6-3 that lower courts overstepped their authority by halting Trump’s birthright citizenship limits nationwide. Murray, on “Ana Cabrera Reports,” claimed the decision prevents lower courts from checking the Trump administration’s “lawless and unconstitutional behavior.”

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“I think this is a really huge win for the Trump administration … I think one of the great fears with this case was that if the court did not say anything about the substance and scope of the 14th Amendment, media would say that the court had saved birthright citizenship,” Murray said. “The court has not saved birthright citizenship. It simply kicked that can down the line and made the legal conditions under which a future suit over birthright citizenship can actually be resolved.”

“This is a huge win for the Trump administration because the court has essentially kneecapped lower courts from stopping this administration when it engages in lawless and unconstitutional behavior,” she added.

Justices Sonia Sotomajor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan dissented.

The Trump administration had appealed three lower court orders preventing the birthright citizenship ban from taking effect in April, requesting the Supreme Court restrict the ability of district court judges to block policies nationwide by using universal injunctions.

“This is all happening in an environment where the Trump administration is not only going after undocumented persons and deporting people without the benefit of due process, they’re doing so while they’re also upending the legal landscape by making it harder for pro bono outfits to secure the help they need from law firms to bring these suits,” Murray said.

“And now, with this decision, they’re essentially saying that litigants will have to file in each particular jurisdiction around the United States in order to be clear that their resolution will have legally binding effect. And that means you’re just going to need a flood, an army of lawyers, at a time when that army of lawyers is not going to be forthcoming,” she continued. “So make no mistake about this. The court has given this administration an enormous win. They have put one hand behind the backs of those who are trying to fight against this administration. And they have dealt a death blow to the rule of law.”

Trump issued his “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” executive order on Jan. 20, which terminates guaranteed citizenship for children of illegal aliens or migrants on temporary visas.

Solicitor General John Saur noted during oral arguments in May that judges had issued 40 universal injunctions against the Trump administration in his second term so far.

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