President Donald Trump appeared in high spirits Friday after the Supreme Court ruled that district courts cannot issue nationwide injunctions, a significant victory for the president’s agenda in the face of mounting legal challenges.
After the ruling was handed down Friday morning, Trump held an impromptu press conference in the White House press briefing room alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“This case is very important,” the president said at the top of his remarks. “I was elected on a historic mandate, but in recent months, we’ve seen a handful of radical left judges effectively try to overrule the rightful powers of the president to stop the American people from getting the policies that they voted for in record numbers. It was a grave threat to democracy, frankly, and instead of merely ruling on the immediate cases before them, these judges have attempted to dictate the law for the entire nation.”
For months, the White House and top Trump officials had raged against district judges for blocking the president’s policies on immigration, social issues, and more.
“This is a decision that covers a tremendous amount of territory, but I want to just thank, again, the Supreme Court for this ruling,” Trump said. “It’s giant, and they should be very proud, and our country should be very proud of the Supreme Court today.”
Trump is responsible for nominating Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the court, but signs have percolated in recent months that the president has grown frustrated with the three conservatives for failing to rule in his favor.
That frustration was absent, however, from Trump’s comments. The president specifically thanked Coney Barrett for “brilliantly” authoring the opinion.
SUPREME COURT LIMITS NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS IN TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP CASE
Still, Friday’s ruling originally stemmed from a challenge to Trump’s Day One executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court declined to directly comment on that case but rather on the general legality of nationwide injunctions. Bondi told reporters Friday that the administration will still wait for a final ruling from the court on birthright citizenship.
Watch Trump’s press conference in full: