The Republican attempt to discourage Trump lawsuits has hit a big obstacle
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have hit a roadblock in an effort that could deter nonprofits, individuals and other potential litigants from filing lawsuits to block President Donald Trump over his executive actions.
As Trump faces lawsuits nationwide, GOP lawmakers had sought to bar federal courts from issuing temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions against the federal government unless the plaintiffs post what in many cases would be a massive financial bond at the beginning of the case.
The proposal was included in the Senate version of Trump's massive tax and immigration bill, but ran into trouble with the Senate parliamentarian, who said it violates the chamber's rules. It is now unlikely to be in the final package.
Federal judges can already require plaintiffs to post security bonds, but such funds are commonly waived in public interest cases. The GOP proposal would make the payment of the financial bond a requirement before a judge could make a ruling, which critics said would have a chilling effect on potential litigants who wouldn't have the resources to comply.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer hailed the parliamentarian's ruling in a press statement and called the GOP effort 'nothing short of an assault on the system of checks and balances that has anchored the nation since it's founding.'
'But Senate Democrats stopped them cold,' Schumer said.
Lawmakers are running scores of provisions by the Senate parliamentarian's office to ensure they fit with the chamber's rules for inclusion in a reconciliation bill. The recommendations from Elizabeth MacDonough will have a major impact on the final version of the legislation.
On Friday, she determined that a proposal to shift some food stamps costs from the federal government to states would violate the chamber's rules. But some of the most difficult questions are still to come as Republicans hope to get a bill passed and on Trump's desk to be signed into law before July 4th.
Republicans could still seek to include the judiciary provision in the bill, but it would likely be challenged and subject to a separate vote in which the provision would need 60 votes to remain. The parliamentarian's advice, while not binding, is generally followed by the Senate.
Republicans and the White House have been highly critical of some of the court rulings blocking various Trump orders on immigration, education and voting. The courts have agreed to block the president in a number of cases, and the administration is seeking appeals as well.
In April, the House voted to limit the scope of injunctive relief ordered by a district judge to those parties before the court, rather than applying the relief nationally. But that bill is unlikely to advance in the Senate since it would need 60 votes to advance. That's left Republicans looking for other avenues to blunt the court orders.
'We are experiencing a constitutional crisis, a judicial coup d'etat,' Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., said during the House debate.
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Globe and Mail
21 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
U.S. bombing raid on Iran raises countless questions despite apparent ceasefire
Political figures, commentators and historians seeking perspective on the bomb and missile strikes Donald Trump ordered Saturday on Iran are reaching for guidance from the country's experience in Vietnam and Iraq. But perhaps the best instruction might come from two Second World War figures. One is Dwight Eisenhower, who concluded eight White House years with a 1961 Farewell Address reminding Americans that, in meeting challenges, 'there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties.' The other is Winston Churchill, who in a 1942 Lord Mayor's Banquet speech at London's Mansion House saluted the victory of the 'men of British blood' in the Second Battle of El Alamein but cautioned, 'Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.' These two notions, if not those exact quotes, are what White House and Pentagon officials face in the aftermath of the stunning barrage of Iran's nuclear sites and the apparent ceasefire between Israel and Iran reached Monday. Iran and Israel agree to a 'complete and total' ceasefire, Trump says Opinion: Is this the first, big step toward ending the Iran war? They don't know whether the spectacular display of the combination of high-tech firepower and brute force achieved the destruction of Iran's nuclear project. Nor do they know whether the cannonade directed at three vital sites signals the brutal end, or the more ominous beginning, of a confrontation between the world's greatest military power and one of the most obdurate theocracies in world history. As the prospect of American armed intervention mounted, the U.S. President said, 'Nobody knows what I'm going to do.' The same now can be said of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran. The country has been weakened by the Operation Midnight Hammer assault. Israeli military actions wiped out the leadership and much of the combat force of Iran's associated Hezbollah paramilitary group and then all but destroyed its air-defence capabilities. But in its current convulsion of hurt and rage, Iran might still undertake an offensive of asymmetrical warfare, employing ingenious techniques to attack American military personnel and installations in the region or to retaliate with terrorist attacks inside the United States. On Monday, it fired missiles at the U.S. base in Qatar but there was no damage. Indeed, what is known now is far less than what is not known. 'We heard a lot of White House braggadocio, but many questions remain,' Dennis Goldford, a political scientist emeritus at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, said in an interview. 'We still don't know what was destroyed. We don't know Iran's response. We haven't engaged the constitutional issues involved. And we don't know the implications of the accumulation of power in the executive branch and the collapse of the will of the legislative branch.' But Mr. Trump's order to attack Iran has initiated a fresh debate inside Congress over the wisdom and, perhaps more important, the legality of his actions. 'Congress needs to ask, what are the consequences of our bombing Iran?' Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in an e-mail response to a Globe and Mail inquiry. 'Will it make us more secure or put our troops at risk and simply push Iran to expel inspectors, rip up the non-proliferation treaty, and rush to develop nuclear weapons? Americans are sick of wars in the Middle East. We need a vote in Congress.' In 2020, during his first term in the White House, Mr. Trump didn't consult Congress before ordering an air strike to kill Iranian military general Qassem Soleimani, who organized fighting proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Nor have past presidents satisfied demands for legislative consultation and approval of many of their actions since the passage of the War Powers Act in 1973. There remain enormous domestic political ramifications of the weekend attack. Former justice minister Irwin Cotler warns Iran may have activated sleeper cells in Canada Donald Trump's claim that Iran's nuclear sites were 'obliterated' seems stretched Mr. Trump campaigned on keeping the United States out of 'forever wars' – such as those in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan – a notion that his MAGA base embraces with ardour. If this conflict has the prospect of qualifying as a 'forever war,' many of the President's supporters will feel betrayed. One of them is the outspoken Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who said in a social-media post, 'I don't want to fight or fund nuclear-armed Israel's wars.' The American attack also raised the question – more a debating point than a relevant issue now that bombs and sea-launched Tomahawk missiles have reached their targets – of whether Washington or Tehran was responsible for blowing up negotiations. A separate debate point – one more relevant, with implications for international law – is whether the weekend attacks mean the United States actually is at war. Since the Korean War, which then-president Harry Truman, avoiding congressional approval, described as a UN-led 'police action,' the U.S. hasn't formally declared war, a power the Constitution gives Congress, not the President. The remarks of a third Second World War figure may have relevance to the current situation, especially if the apparent ceasefire between Israel and Iran does not hold. In a campaign speech days before the 1940 election – at a time when Canada as well as portions of Asia and Europe were involved in worldwide combat – Franklin Delano Roosevelt told a Boston audience, 'Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.' That was a world-class artful dodge, for if the United States were involved in a war, it would no longer be a 'foreign war.' Similarly, any attack on American citizens or assets beyond the Qatar attack, even if provoked by the action Mr. Trump ordered, would likely negate the power of the President's vow among his MAGA masses.
Toronto Sun
26 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Thailand blocks tourists from entering Cambodia as border tensions soar
Published Jun 23, 2025 • 2 minute read In this photo released by Thailand's Government Spokesman Office, Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra arrives at Government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, June 23, 2025. Photo by Thailand's Government Spokesman Office via AP BANGKOK — Thailand began imposing land border restrictions Monday including blocking tourists heading into Cambodia as the two countries engage in retaliation in their border dispute. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Relations between the countries have deteriorated following an armed confrontation May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed in a relatively small, contested territory. While the two sides have agreed to de-escalate their dispute, they continue to implement or threaten measures that have kept tensions high. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Monday that Thailand will boost screening at land borders and block departing tourists, saying that only students, medical patients and others who need to purchase essential goods would be allowed to enter or leave Thailand. She said the measures were aimed at blocking people heading toward Cambodia's lucrative casinos, but it appeared that all tourists would be blocked. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Thai army said in a statement later Monday that it had implemented the measures at every land border checkpoint between Thailand and Cambodia in five provinces, and that it was stopping all crossings except for people with essential needs. Read More Cambodia, for its part, has boycotted some Thai internet services, and blocked electricity and fuel supplies from Thailand in response to the border dispute. Prior to the boycott, Cambodia imported 30% of its gasoline and other fuel from Thailand. 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Winnipeg Free Press
26 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Arizona legislature approves bill that would provide up to $500 million for Chase Field renovations
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