NY Rep. Presents Bill To Stop Conservative Judges From Halting Democratic Policies Like Debt Relief

New York Rep. Mondaire Jones (D) believes conservative judges shouldn’t have the power to stop Democratic policies and has introduced a bill barring district courts from issuing nationwide injunctions of federal policies.

The New York Democrat wrote an opinion piece for the Huffington Post last week where he criticized Republican-appointed judges “unrestrained use of nationwide injunctions” to block Democratic policies. In the article, Jones cited federal judge Mark Pittman, appointed by former President Donald Trump, and ruled that President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan is illegal.

The ruling has blocked millions from student debt relief, and the Supreme Court is now hearing the case. According to Jones, Pittman and other federal judges should not have that power.

“Although the Biden administration has appealed this ruling, its long-overdue student debt relief program will now, at a minimum, be stalled for many months,” Jones wrote in his piece. “This begs an important question: How can a lone Trump-appointed judge in Texas, through a single opinion, overturn the Biden administration’s meticulously planned executive order in all 50 states?”

Other instances Jones cited included when U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Mizell, also appointed by Trump, struck down President Biden’s mask mandate for public transportation earlier this year.

Those instances led Jones to introduce the Injunction Reduction Act, which would ban the district court from issuing nationwide injunctions of federal policies and give that authority to the federal district court in Washington D.C., the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court.

“By making these three courts the only ones that can universally enjoin federal laws, regulations, and executive orders, my bill would vest this authority in the courts best suited to make decisions with national implications — as judged by their jurisprudential history and subject-matter expertise,” Jones said in a release on the Act.

Biden’s Student Debt Relief Plan has been blocked in federal courts twice. Pittman oversaw one of the lawsuits filed by two student loan borrowers who did not qualify for the full amount of relief. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals also blocked the plan on behalf of six Republican-led states who say it would hurt their tax revenues and the student loan company MOHELA.

Next month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding whether the Biden administration can move forward with student loan forgiveness.

This isn’t Jones’s first attack on the Republican Party or its methods. Last year, Jones said Republican arguments denying Washington D.C. statehood are “racist trash.”