JPTi Responds to the Passage of H.R. 1526: A Regressive Blow to Judicial Oversight and Human Rights Accountability

JPTi Responds to the Passage of H.R. 1526: A Regressive Blow to Judicial Oversight and Human Rights Accountability

On 6 May 2025, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 1526, a bill seeking to curtail the authority of federal district courts to issue nationwide injunctions against presidential policies and executive orders. Justice pour Tous Internationale (JPTi) expresses serious concern over the implications of this development for the rule of law and the United States' international human rights obligations.

While it is legitimate that individual judges operate within the bounds of their territorial and subject-matter jurisdiction, the way H.R. 1526 is constructed does not serve this judicial principle. Instead, it seeks to eliminate a vital mechanism of judicial control—precisely at a time when meaningful oversight of executive action is indispensable.

H.R. 1526 stands in clear conflict with the United States’ legally binding obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), particularly Articles 2, 4, and 14, which jointly guarantee the right to a fair trial and access to effective remedies, and demand effective, independent oversight over the exercise of emergency and security-related powers.

As JPTi underscored in its recent submission to the 50th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United States, the current U.S. emergency powers regime already suffers from excessive executive discretion, minimal judicial oversight, and routine procedural violations that collectively erode fundamental civil and political rights both domestically and extraterritorially.

By further limiting the judiciary’s authority, H.R. 1526 institutionalizes impunity, disrupts the balance of powers, and obstructs the possibility of legal redress for unconstitutional or rights-violating measures. It is neither based on the U.S. Constitution nor on the United States’ international legal obligations.

JPTi therefore calls upon the U.S. Senate to reject H.R. 1526. The United States Congress must ensure that all legislative reforms, particularly those affecting access to justice and emergency powers, are firmly grounded in constitutional guarantees and binding international human rights law.

Read JPTi’s official stakeholder submission to the UN Human Rights Council on USA Non-Compliance with Article 4 of the ICCPR here:

 🔗 JPTi Submits UPR Report on U.S. Non-Compliance with Article 4 of the ICCPR - Geneva, 8 April 2025

Justice pour Tous Internationale will continue to advocate before the Human Rights Council and other international mechanisms to ensure that fundamental rights are upheld and protected from the creeping erosion of democratic safeguards.