Injunction

An injunction is a court order compelling a party to take a specific action or to refrain from one, distinct from money damages, which simply compensate for harm already done. Courts issue injunctions at different stages and with different scope: a temporary restraining order provides very short-term, emergency relief; a preliminary injunction blocks an action while a case proceeds toward a full trial; and a permanent injunction is issued only after a final ruling on the merits.

Federal district courts have increasingly issued nationwide injunctions — orders blocking a federal policy not just for the parties in the specific lawsuit but for the entire country — a practice that has drawn criticism across administrations of both parties whenever it’s used against their own policies, since a single district judge anywhere in the country can potentially halt a nationwide policy while litigation continues. The Supreme Court significantly curtailed this practice in Trump v. CASA, Inc. (2025), holding that federal courts generally lack authority to issue universal injunctions extending relief beyond the actual parties before the court.

Common misconception: people often assume a lower federal court’s injunction against a federal policy settles the underlying legal question. An injunction, especially a preliminary one, is only a temporary pause reflecting a court’s initial judgment about the likelihood of success on the merits and the balance of harms — it is explicitly not a final ruling, and injunctions are frequently narrowed, expanded, or reversed entirely as a case continues through the appeals process.