REMARKS
Remarks by Vice President Pence at the Federalist Society’s Seventh Annual Executive Branch Review Conference
Issued on: May 8, 2019
The Mayflower Hotel
Washington, D.C.
4:20 P.M. EDT
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Unfortunately, as you’ve no doubt reflected on today, the kind of government control that our Founders were concerned about is too often exerted by the administrative state in this country. And it’s been emerging in recent years in the federal judiciary in the form of nationwide injunctions.
These orders are issued by federal district court judges on a broad range of issues — from national security to immigration, from border security to healthcare reform. And these orders prevent the entire Executive Branch from enforcing a statute, a regulation, or a policy on a nationwide basis. And they apply everywhere, to everyone, granting relief even to those who are not parties to a case.
As Justice Thomas wrote last year in a decision upholding President Trump’s ability to enforce our immigration laws against nationwide injunctions, Justice Thomas said nationwide injunctions, in his words, “take a toll on the federal court system — preventing legal questions from percolating… [and] encouraging forum shopping, and making every case a national emergency for the courts and…the Executive Branch.”
It’s remarkable to think a Supreme Court justice has to convince four of their colleagues to uphold a nationwide injunction, but a single district court judge can issue one, effectively preventing the duly elected President of the United States from fulfilling what he believes is a constitutional duty.
This obstruction at the district level is unprecedented. Studies show that there’s not a single example of a nationwide injunction in the first 175 years of our nation’s history.
Although we received some good news last night that the Ninth Circuit stayed an injunction to allow our administration to continue our “remain in Mexico” policy, addressing the crisis at our southern border, the truth is, our administration has been unfairly hit with more nationwide injunctions than the first 40 American presidents combined.
Nationwide injunctions issued by federal judges prevent the Executive Branch from acting, compromising our national security by obstructing the lawful ability of the President to stop threats to the homeland, where he sees them.
These injunctions undermine the rule of law and the separation of powers that are central to our nation’s founding, that lie at the very heart of our Constitution.
And so I say to all those gathered here, for the sake of our liberty, our security, our prosperity, and the separation of powers: This era of judicial activism must come to an end. (Applause.)
The Supreme Court of the United States must clarify that district judges can decide no more than the cases before them. And it’s imperative that we restore the historic tradition that district judges do not set policy for the whole nation.
In the days ahead, our administration will seek opportunities to put this very question before the Supreme Court to ensure that decisions affecting every American are made either by those elected to represent the American people or by the highest court in the land. (Applause.)
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