House passes No Rogue Rulings Act to limit judicial power against Donald Trump’s policies— What is the bill about?

The US House of Representatives led by the Republicans on Wednesday voted to limit the powers of judges to issue nationwide orders blocking government policies following rulings blocking US President Donald Trump's objectives.

The No Rogue Rulings Act is known to be the top priority of top Republican lawmakers after several judges issued orders against Trump's executive orders. The House voted 219-213 in favour of the Act, according to a report by news agency Reuters.

The bill will now go to the Senate, where it has to secure 60 votes to become law. However, the Republicans have a 53-57 majority in the Senate, where a similar law to limit the powers of judicial orders is still pending.

In the last two decades, there has been an increase in orders from judges against the policies of both Republican and Democratic administrations, pushing both parties for reform over the years.

The latest bill was introduced after judges in over 170 cases challenged Trump's executive orders, calling them unlawful or unconstitutional.

"Since President Trump has returned to office, left-leaning activists have cooperated with ideological judges whom they have sought out to take their cases and weaponized nationwide injunctions to stall dozens of lawful executive actions and initiatives," the report quoted US Representative Darrell Issa, the bill's lead Republican sponsor.

What is the No Rogue Ruling Act?

According to the bill, the scope of judgements will be limited to specific parties, while they could still give nationwide orders in case of class action lawsuits. For cases where two or more states are involved, a randomly assigned three-judge panel will be constituted, whose rulings could be appealed directly to the US Supreme Court.

"No one single activist judge should be able to issue a nationwide injunction to stop a president's policies," the report quoted Republican Speaker Mike Johnson speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity ahead of the vote. "That's not the way the framers intended this to work, and we're going to put them back in check."

Democrats criticise the bill

However, the Democrats have criticised the bill and called it an attempt to ensure judges cannot block any unlawful executive order passed by Trump.

"The whole idea of suddenly blocking nationwide injunctions because Donald Trump is losing every single day in court defeats the whole concept of the rule of law," the report quoted Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

If the bill becomes a law, it would prevent judges in Washington, Massachusetts and Maryland from issuing the nationwide orders that have blocked Trump's "blatantly unconstitutional" attempt to restrict automatic US birthright citizenship, according to Raskin.

Trump administration hails support

Trump administration has welcomed the majority support received in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, and a US Justice Department spokesperson claimed it would "reinforce the separation of powers."

"This Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump's policies and will continue to do so whenever challenged in federal court by rogue judges who think they can control the president's executive authority," the report quoted the spokesperson.

(With inputs from Reuters)