Overview

• Senate leaders are advancing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act through budget reconciliation to curtail judges’ power without needing 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber.
• New Judiciary Committee language mandates plaintiffs post bonds covering potential government expenses—often tens of millions—before a court may grant a preliminary injunction.
• Republicans stripped the House provision barring courts from enforcing contempt orders but retained measures to fund studies on injunction costs and train judges on their use.
• Legal experts, including Columbia Law’s Jamal Greene, call the bond requirement a frontal assault on the rule of law that will deter lower-resourced challengers.
• Senate Democrats argue the changes are designed to shield the Trump administration from judicial checks and undermine the separation of powers.