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Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, in our constitutional Republic, the President represents the will of ``we the people.'' He does this more than any other elected official in this country because, alongside the Vice President, he is the only office holder who is elected by the entire Nation, State by State.

And in November, the American people gave President Trump a powerful mandate to secure the border, lower inflation, rein in spending, restore our standing in the world, and usher in what he terms is a new ``golden age'' for America. And to be certain, the administration is seeing a lot of success, and the American people are very pleased with what he has done.

However, on many fronts, the Trump agenda has been held up in court, not for legitimate legal reasons but because activist judges want to block as many actions by this administration as they possibly can.

In the last two months alone, judges issued more injunctions--and, in February, that was 15 against President Trump--than they did against President Biden in his entire 4 years. There were 14 against him.

Now, these judges are not issuing rulings on small details in narrow cases. They are trying to stop policies at the heart of President Trump's ``America First'' agenda.

What we know that the American people and, indeed, Tennesseans, whom I represent--what they want to see is a government that is going to be transparent, a government that is going to be accountable, a government that will be a good steward of their money.

But activists on the left can't get what they want at the ballot box. They lost on November 5. They lost, and they can't accept that. They can't get what they want legislatively. They don't have the votes.

The American people said we are tired of leftist DEI-ESG policies. We are tired of two tiers of justice. We are tired of seeing waste, fraud, and abuse in the government. Reporting it, and the bureaucracy does nothing--zip, zero, nada. They are tired of that, and they are pleased with the actions that are being taken by this administration to hold the bureaucracy to account--not for just what is some of what I think they are doing, but for every single penny that they are spending and every decision that they are making.

Now, as I said, we have got those on the left. They can't get what they want at the ballot box. They can't get what they want legislatively. They are looking at Governors and State legislators who are not giving them what they want, which is control and power over the American people.

But that is what the American people are saying: Oh, no, we are not going to let you have that.

So what have our colleagues on the left decided to do? Well, there is one branch of government that is left for them to try to go in and say: You do it for us. We have failed. We can't get it legislatively. We can't win these elections, but we are going to count on you.

And that is the judiciary.

So what we have seen and what is troubling so many Tennesseans is activist judges that are on the bench, but, all of a sudden, they are trying to act like they are Supreme Court Justices. They are trying to act like they have the authority to take down the decisions and actions of a President who is delivering what the American people want.

So our colleagues and friends on the left are now depending on the judiciary to rescue them--to rescue them. They failed because they are wrong, and the American people said we are not with you.

So now we have these judges. They are stepping up. They are district judges.

Now, what we know is this. A district judge has a case before him. His decision or her decision applies to that case, and it applies to the district in which that judge is seated.

But oh, no, these activists on the court have decided they are going to make nationwide injunctions to try to stop some of President Trump's policies, which as I said, are policies the American people have said: We want to see this done.

It is like cutting down the size of the Federal bureaucracy. The American people are loving what DOGE is doing, but the leftists go to a district judge out in, of all places, San Francisco, and they have that judge issue an order to block what the President is doing.

So this district judge out in San Francisco--the ``left coast,'' appropriately named--directed the administration to rehire thousands of terminated bureaucrats.

Tennesseans and a lot of Americans, also want a government that spends taxpayer dollars responsibly because we have $36 trillion in debt--$36 trillion in debt.

Now, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has already found north of $140 billion in waste and fraud. They have identified this, and we are working to save this money for the taxpayers.

But here, again, the left can't pass what they want on the floor of the Senate or the floor of the House. So they go to the judiciary, and they say: You stop them because we can't get enough of the taxpayer money. We want more of it, and we want to shove it out the door to leftist NGOs and organizations and nonprofits. We want that money so we can waste it the way we want to waste it.

Now, that is, in essence, what they are saying. They want the power and the authority to waste your money. That is what the Democrats are working for.

Well, DOGE is working for the people--for the people. Go pick up those founding documents: ``People''--``We the People.'' It is in caps. It is in caps.

But see what happens with the bureaucracy? The people stand up to be the people, and, all of a sudden, the leftists say: Oh, no, this is our sandbox. We have got to have more spending. We have got to have more money. We want to waste it all.

Who is going to pay for this? It is going to be our kids and our grandkids because it not only affects our Nation's solvency; that addresses our Nation's ability to be a sovereign nation.

We have got activist judges, and oh, you know, all those NGOs--they are just stuck in a tear over this. So you have got a judge that says: Oh, no, you have got to send this money out.

Are you kidding me? They don't want to save the taxpayers' money?

Now, I think one that has come up so often with Tennesseans and the reason this issue of these out-of-control leftist judges came up on our telephone townhall last night--by the way, we had thousands of Tennesseans on that call, and it had to do with deporting these criminal illegal aliens--Tren de Aragua, MS-13.

To my colleagues, I remind you, we have deemed them foreign terrorist organizations. These are not people who are our friends. These are people who are terrorists. They are gangs. They have murdered. They have raped. They have robbed.

But we have some of our friends on the left who are saying: Oh, you can't deport them. You can't send them to the gang prison in El Salvador. You have got to bring them back.

Are you kidding me? Show me somebody that actually wants to have more murderers and rapists and robbers in their community.

I invite anybody: If you want to go out there and protect rapists and murders and robbers, you come on down here, and you explain why you would like to have them come.

If they are for that, I would like to hear why they are.

But what we see happening is these activist judges are undermining our Nation's Constitution. In each of our Nation's 677 district judges, there is no veto power over the President--none. They do not have it. There is nothing--nothing--that gives a Federal district judge veto power over the actions of the President of the United States.

Now, if they did have that power, they would be circumventing the will of the people, and we would no longer be a sovereign nation.

The separation of powers works both ways. Judges must respect the President's authority over the executive branch. That is his jurisdiction.

To ensure that happens, my Republican colleagues and I are introducing the Judicial Relief Clarification Act.

Now, this is being led by Senator Chuck Grassley, who is chairman of our Judiciary Committee. And it would end this harmful practice of nationwide injunctions, make temporary restraining orders against Federal or State governments immediately appealable, and ensure the courts can only issue relief for the case or the controversy before them.

A district judge in San Francisco or anywhere else should not ever be deciding national policy. That is not something they have the ability to do. Altogether, these provisions would help restore Federal courts to their core purpose, which is administering justice under the rule of law--not deciding nationwide policy.

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