Trump victorious as court's term ends
Conservative justices back administration
By: Jan Wolfe
and Will Dunham
Reuters
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on the last day [06/27/2028] of rulings fort its current term gave Donald Trump his latest in a series of victories at the nation's top judicial body, one hat may make it easier for him to implement contentious elements of his sweeping agenda as he tests the limits of presidential power.
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With its six conservative members in the majority and its three liberals dissenting, the court on June 27 [2025] curbed the ability of judges to impede his policies nationwide, resetting the power balance between the federal judiciary and presidents.
..... The ruling came after the Republican president's administration asked the Supreme Court to narrow the scope of so-called "universal" injunctions issued by three federal judges that halted nationally the enforcement of his January [2025] executive order limiting birthright citizenship.
..... The court's decision has "systematically weakens judicial oversight and strengthens executive discretion,"said Paul Rosenzweig, an attorney who served in Republican President George W. Hush's administration.
..... The ruling said that judges generally can grant relief only to the individuals or groups who brought a particular lawsuit.
..... The decision did not, however, permit immediate implementation of Trump's directive, instate structuring lower courts to reconsider the scope of the injunctions. the ruling was authored by Justice Amy Coney Barret, one of three conservative justices appointed by Trump during his first term in office from 2017-2021.
.... Trump has scored a series of victories at the Supreme Cort since returning to office in January. [2025] These have included clearing the ways for his administration to resume deporting migrants to counties other than their own without offering them a chance to show the harms they could face and ending temporary legal status held by hundreds of thousands of migrants on humanitarian ground.
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"One theme is the court's struggle to keep pace with a faster-moving legal world, especially as the Trump administration test the outer boundaries of its powers," Boston College Law School professor Daniel Lyons said.
..... In other cases, the court sided with a Republican-backed ban in Tennessee on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, endorsed South Carolina's plan to cut off public funding to reproductive health care and abortion provider Planned Parenthood, and made it easier to pursue claims alleging workplace "reverse" discrimination.
..... The court also spared two American gun companies from the Mexican government's lawsuit accusing them of aiding illegal firearms trafficking to drug cartels, and allowed parents to opt elementary school children out of classes when story books with LGBT characters are read.
'Not the court's role'
..... In several cases involving federal statues, the message from the justices is that people unhappy with the outcome need to take that up with Congress, according to Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson.
..... "The court is implicitly saying, 'That's Congress' problem to fix, and it's not the court's role to solve those issues,'" Levinso said.
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This is the second straight year that the court ended its term with a decision handing Trump a major victory. On July1, 2024, it ruled in favor of Trump in deciding that presidents cannot be prosecuted for official actions taken in office. It marked the first time that the court recognized any from of presidential immunity form prosecution.
..... The Supreme Court's next term begins in October, [2025] but Trump's administration still has some emergency requests pending that the justices could act upon at any time. It has asked the court to halt a judicial order blocking mass federal job cuts and the restructuring of agencies.
..... It also has asked the justices to rein in the judge handling a case involving deportations to so-called "third countries."
..... Recent rulings "have really shown the court for what it is, which is a deeply conservative court," Georgia State
University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said.
..... The court's conservative majority, Kreis said, "is probably feeling more emboldened to act."