This Is the Constitutional Crisis You’ve Been Fearing
A protester holds a sign at the June 14 “No Kings” rally in Worcester, Massachusetts, hosted by GAIN - Greater Assabet Indivisible Network.
The Supreme Court’s Alarming New Ruling—and What It Means for Protesters
In a landmark decision, with sweeping consequences, the US Supreme Court has ruled that federal courts can no longer put "universal injunctions" on government actions. In other words, lower courts cannot block government policies for the entire nation -- or even for entire groups of people -- unless those individuals are named plaintiffs in a lawsuit. This ruling, Trump v. CASA, Inc., strips lower courts of the power to temporarily halt government actions even in cases where those actions are blatantly unconstitutional.
To understand how dangerous this is, imagine this very plausible scenario, ripped from the headlines: The administration declares martial law in Los Angeles because of anti-immigration protests. Protesters take to the streets and are arrested en masse. Anyone arrested who is not a citizen, even those who are permanent residents with Green cards, are immediately deported with no hearing.
Under this new ruling, even if one of the protesters somehow got a court hearing and the judge agreed that the arrests or deportations are unconstitutional, it can’t stop them across the board. It could only protect that one protester who got their court case in front of a judge. Lower courts can now only protect one person at a time, the one named plaintiff per lawsuit. Everyone else? They're on their own unless they also sue. And if they've been arrested, deported, or disappeared without a hearing... good luck.
This also means that courts have no ability to fight mass actions. Lower courts can't say that a declaration of martial law is unlawful. They can't stop mass deportations, or mass firings, or even brutal crackdowns. The lower courts can maybe still rule on these issues, but any injunction, any pause, would have to be ordered by the Supreme Court -- a court that could take months, or YEARS, to act.
This means that lower courts are effectively almost useless to rapidly stop systemic abuses. The judiciary -- once a vital check against unlawful executive action -- is now handcuffed. Unless lawyers can rapidly identify and file suits on behalf of individual victims or successfully certify a class action, illegal crackdowns can proceed unimpeded. The ruling doesn’t just limit legal tools -- it delays justice and puts real lives at risk.
No one can protect individuals who don't see a lower court judge. No one can stop the declaration of martial law. The Trump administration can do WHATEVER IT WANTS and by the time the Supreme Court could help it would be too late.
If you've been wondering when it's time to panic, the answer is, at the latest, today, June 27, 2025.
