Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered a powerful rebuke to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday as the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration in a major case over nationwide injunctions. Barrett called Jackson’s dissent extreme and accused her of pushing a view that clashed with more than two hundred years of precedent. 

Barrett said Jackson’s opinion promoted a dangerous form of judicial supremacy. The case involved a challenge to the use of nationwide injunctions by lower courts including those that blocked President Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship. Barrett said those injunctions went beyond the role assigned to courts by the Constitution.

Court Battle Centers On Trump Immigration Policy

Barrett emphasized that judges can only apply rulings to the parties before them and not the entire nation. She left room for broader relief through class actions or statewide cases. Jackson argued that courts should have the power to stop unconstitutional actions by the president but Barrett rejected that view. 

“She wrote that Jackson’s argument would make even the strongest supporter of judicial power uneasy.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined the dissent and accused the court of being complicit in Trump’s legal maneuvering. Sotomayor said Trump avoided asking the court to rule on the actual birthright citizenship issue and instead attacked the courts’ authority. 

The ruling does not prevent future challenges to Trump’s order but forces them to use different legal strategies. The decision marks a significant shift in how courts may handle future executive actions. The clash between the justices showed deep division over the future of judicial power.