In a Senate Judiciary hearing, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chair of the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, issued a stark warning about what he called a “constitutional crisis” driven by judicial overreach. The hearing, a joint session with the Subcommittee on the Constitution, examined how certain procedural tools, specifically nationwide injunctions, are affecting the separation of powers.
“What we're witnessing is the rise of judicial lawfare from the bench,” Sen. Ted Cruz said in his opening remarks. “One unelected district judge sitting in a courtroom in San Francisco, Boston, or Baltimore can now issue a nationwide injunction that ties the hands of the President of the United States for all 330 million Americans. That's not law, that's judicial tyranny.”
Cruz highlighted the growing use of nationwide injunctions, especially in response to actions by the Trump administration. He stated that over 40 such injunctions have already been issued since President Trump returned to office in January.
“To put that in context,” Cruz said, “in the first 150 years of the Republic, zero nationwide injunctions were issued.” He compared that to 27 in the entire 20th century, 32 under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Biden combined, and 64 during Trump’s first term. “And now in just four months, we're already over forty,” he added. “This is not normal. This is not justice.”
Cruz attributed the trend to what he described as radical judicial appointments made under the Biden Administration. “They sought out radicals who would implement policy-making from the bench, and they are precisely doing that,” he said. “That is not democracy, and that is not our Constitution.”
The Texas senator concluded by emphasizing the need to defend the constitutional balance of powers. “This hearing is to highlight the effects of this judicial tyranny of single judges deciding they know better when it comes to policy than do the voters of America,” he said. “We need to defend democracy.”
The hearing reflects a broader Republican concern that the judiciary is increasingly being used to obstruct executive authority, particularly when held by Republican administrations.
