June 2025

6 entries from June 2025.

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 district courts cannot issue nationwide injunctions, eliminating key civil rights enforcement tool

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 27, 2025, in Trump v. CASA, Inc. that federal district courts lack authority to issue nationwide injunctions protecting people beyond named parties in a case. The majority opinion, written by Justice Barrett, held that the Judiciary Act of 1789 authorizes only injunctions necessary to provide complete relief to named plaintiffs. The ruling immediately allowed Trump's birthright citizenship executive order to partially take effect against non-parties in states that had not filed suit, while courts continued finding the order unconstitutional.

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Medicaid patients cannot sue to enforce free-choice-of-provider, clearing path to exclude Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 26, 2025, in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic that Medicaid enrollees cannot use 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to enforce the program's free-choice-of-provider provision in federal court. Justice Gorsuch's majority opinion held the provision imposes duties on states without conferring individual rights that § 1983 protects, allowing South Carolina's exclusion of Planned Parenthood from Medicaid to stand. At least 14 other states had enacted or attempted similar exclusions, each now free of judicial check by patients through this mechanism.

SAMHSA ended 988 Lifeline's LGBTQ+ specialized counseling option, cutting crisis service for high-risk youth

On June 17, 2025, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced the immediate termination of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ specialized counseling sub-line, which allowed callers to press 3 to reach counselors trained in LGBTQ+ youth mental health crisis intervention. The service had logged approximately 1.3 million contacts since its October 2022 launch. SAMHSA cited exhausted congressionally directed funding, though the Trump administration retained authority to reallocate existing HHS mental health funds to continue the service.

Trump signed three CRA resolutions revoking California Clean Air Act waivers; GAO and Senate parliamentarian found CRA inapplicable

On June 12, 2025, President Trump signed H.J. Res. 87, 88, and 89 into law, revoking three EPA Clean Air Act waivers that authorized California to enforce stricter-than-federal vehicle emissions standards under its longstanding § 209(b) authority. Both the Government Accountability Office and the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian had issued findings that the Congressional Review Act does not legally apply to EPA waiver decisions. The three resolutions' enactment permanently bars EPA from issuing any "substantially similar" waiver, ending California's decades-long independent emissions authority without a statutory basis for the prospective ban.

DOJ Civil Division memo elevated denaturalization to top-five priority, expanding revocation criteria far beyond fraud-in-naturalization

On June 11, 2025, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate signed a DOJ Civil Division enforcement memo making denaturalization one of the division's top five priorities, directing attorneys to "prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence." The memo expanded revocation criteria beyond war criminals and fraud-in-naturalization to include PPP loan fraud, Medicaid fraud, gang membership, and a catch-all "any other cases" category—affecting all 24.5 million naturalized Americans, who have no right to appointed counsel in these civil proceedings.

Trump signed Proclamation 10948 banning new Harvard international student visas, directing State to revoke existing ones

On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed Proclamation 10948, suspending entry of all new Harvard-bound international students on F, M, and J visas and directing the Secretary of State to consider revoking existing visas for current Harvard students on a case-by-case basis. The proclamation, issued under INA § 212(f), accused Harvard of jeopardizing the student visa system's integrity by refusing to surrender student records demanded by DHS and defying April 2025 demands to alter curriculum, admissions, and diversity programs. At the time of signing, Harvard enrolled approximately 6,800 international students.