The Trump administration’s repeated losses in courts have sparked Republican efforts to limit the reach of the judiciary, something Democrats argue is designed to hamstring reviews of lawless orders.

Congressional Republicans have rolled out two legislative vehicles that would curb nationwide injunctions, arguing this will restore order to the judiciary and put district court judges in their place.

“These rogue judge rulings are a new resistance to the Trump administration and the only time in which judges in robes in this number have felt it necessary to participate in the political process,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the sponsor of one such bill to limit nationwide injunctions, said at a hearing this week.

“The federal judiciary isn't interpreting the law. It is impeding the presidency. It is, in fact, not co-equal, but holding itself to be superior.”

But Democrats say the bills are an attack on a system that is rightfully reviewing a record-high number of executive actions from President Trump that exceed the bounds of the law.

District court judges have the power to pause Trump directives they find may be unlawful as the case is further litigated, and under presidents of both parties they’ve imposed those orders on a nationwide basis to protect those across the country who might otherwise be impacted by what could be an illegal action.

“We've heard repeated complaints from Republicans about the number of injunctions issued against this president compared to other presidents. Why so many?” said Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“They ignore the fact that this president has issued more than 100 executive orders, the most by any president at this point in his term in at least four decades. Many are clearly illegal,” he added, pointing to Trump’s directive to end birthright citizenship for those born in the U.S. to noncitizen parents.

In pushing their legislation, Republicans have complained about the power of one judge to stall a Trump directive, citing a string of court cases where judges have least temporarily blocked his policies.

That includes several judges who........

© The Hill