The Supreme Court attempted to split the baby between executive “national security” power and the dynamic use of the “Alien Enemies Act” today with a ruling that temporarily blocks the Trump administration from deporting criminal alien gang members under the UEA until the criminals are afforded some undefined amount of time to appeal their repatriation status. Essentially, this is a stall and punt routine. [READ RULING HERE]
From the Ruling, “To be clear, we decide today only that the detainees are entitled to more notice than was given on April 18, and we grant temporary injunctive relief to preserve our jurisdiction while the question of what notice is due is adjudicated. [See post, at 13 (ALITO, J., dissenting).] We did not on April 19 —and do not now— address the underlying merits of the parties’ claims regarding the legality of removals under the AEA. We recognize the significance of the Government’s national security interests as well as the necessity that such interests be pursued in a manner consistent with the Constitution. In light of the foregoing, lower courts should address AEA cases expeditiously.”
The 7-2 ruling was unsigned. Justices Alito and Thomas dissented. The main opinion issued by the court was labeled “per curiam” — a term meaning that it was issued by the court as a body, rather than any individual justice. However, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a separate opinion concurring in the decision. But Kavanaugh wrote that he’d prefer to have the Supreme Court dig into the legality of Trump’s Alien Enemies Act invocation right away, without waiting for the issue to be hashed out by lower courts.
NEW YORK TIMES – The Trump administration will not be allowed to deport a group of Venezuelan detainees accused of being members of a violent gang under a rarely invoked wartime law while the matter is litigated in the courts, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
The justices sent the case back to a federal appeals court, directing it to examine claims by the migrants that they could not be legally deported under the Alien Enemies Act, the centuries-old wartime law invoked by the Trump administration. The justices said the appeals court should also examine what kind of notice the government be required to provide that would allow migrants the opportunity to challenge their deportations.
The court said its order would remain in place until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled and the Supreme Court considered any appeal from that ruling. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote a dissent. He was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. (more)
The Alito dissent, which appears beginning on PAGE 11 of the pdf, is well worth reading. Within the dissent Alito documents the timeline of the case and outlines why the Supreme Court intervention is unwarranted. From the Alito opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts dragged the high court into the case without any reasonable justification for interceding.
Surely there are other Federal laws under which illegal, criminal migrants can be deported. The AEA is useful in that it declares immigrants from any specific country/group are eligible for deportation. The Trump EO specified Tren de Aragua members.
Redraft all of the TDA deportations to the same laws governing MS-13, etc. and ship their criminal butts outta here…NOW! Trump/Homan have only scratched the surface layer of criminal illegals (less than 100,000). A million more to go while SCOTUS ponders the AEA.
Somehow President Obama was able to deport people.
We could use those laws.
The issue here was basically mass deportation of certain criminals. If we can’t do it that way (yet) we can do it the other way.
Terrorists are subjects of “expedited deportation” under the USA PATRIOT Act which was developed, in part, as a way to give the Executive Branch ability to speedily remove “suspected terrorists.” The USA PATRIOT Act was the statute used to include Mexican cartels, MS-13 and Tren de Aragua as “Terrorist Organizations.”
The best part of the dissent by Alito and Thomas is toward the end in which “due process” is described as flexible, which is what I found in my research to develop a one-stop posting for how much “due process” illegal migrants receive. It is flexible depending upon the elements of the statute, the status of the illegal migrant (terrorist, criminal, no evidence of criminal record or activity), and the venue in which the matter is adjudicated. It’s full name is “Due Process of Law.” You get the due process encoded in the law.
The irony of this is: The Alien Enemies Act has more Due Process in its elements than the USA PATRIOT Act has its elements. Basically, it is all about the accelerated deportation of suspected alien terrorists. Due process is mostly absent in USA PATRIOT, while the AEA declares local federal judges have the “duty” to ascertain if a particular alien is, in fact, an enemy alien. That is included in Section 23. What is helpful to an Executive Branch seeking to rapidly detain and deport alien enemies is the fact the judge is confined to the Proclamation issued by the President, along with any regulations accompanying the proclamation to make that determination. When a President does not provide sufficient direction to the judges in those documents, there is an opportunity for improvisation by the judges.
In another section, there is encouragement to display the spirit of “hospitality” to suspected alien enemies by, whenever practicable, to arrange for their ability to close out their remaining responsibilities in the US prior to deportation. So the irony here is the AEA being the statute tossed, while USA PATRIOT remains and can be invoked to gain “Expedited Deportation” of suspected terrorists.
Roberts strikes again!
They grabbed him by his snarglies and squeezed this ruling out of him and his other two idiots!
eff you see kay Roberts!
Just a tad frustrating.
Separate them to various DHS holding facilities or local jails; Complicate things.
Find various legal arguments for removal and charge each of them differently.
Keep throwing the spaghetti at the wall and see which one sticks!
Seven justices imply that illegal immigrants who got into the country and released within 24 hrs., somehow have due process rights that can take months before deportation, not to mention the 3 million that were deported under Obama, who snuck back in multiple times.
Where was the Supreme Court when Obama was deporting illegal immigrants, clearly, they are anti-Trump and have TDS. The courts need to be ignored.
Where was the Supreme Court???
Nobody sued him in Federal Court to even get to the Robert’s Roulette Wheel called the Supreme Court. Congress had already been subverted and the crop of AG’s who went on the offensive in 2016 were NOT yet in place.
It has to be obvious by now that Chief Justice Roberts’ installation as Chief Justice by Bush II in 2007 was the final piece put in place, before Obama was installed in 2008. The final piece in the operation to simultaneously, by “legal” means to corrupt ALL 3-Branches of the US Government…by permanently installing a system to keep the Courts and Congress Corrupted … supporting the “hidden” Professional Un-Elected Layer of the Executive Branch running the Government.
I fear the only way out now is the unthinkable … the violence of an likely unwinnable Civil War.
Where was the nationwide injunction by a District Court judge or a District Court magistrate? They would have been subject to the Hillary Clinton form of justice (Arkancide) had one of them done that!
Geiger Capital
@Geiger_Capital
I’ve had a few drinks and read the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Alien Enemies Act…
First, this was not a block on Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act. It was simply a punt and an effort to tie it up a bit longer. Instead of just being men, they punted it back to the Fifth Circuit.
Now, the Fifth Circuit will actually end up siding with Trump on his legal authority and use of the Alien Enemies Act. However, they will need to clarify some arbitrary amount of days that the administration must give as notice to the illegal immigrant gang member deportees. Today, 24 hours was ruled not enough.
Cont reading….
Don’t hold your breath for this pipe dream to come true. There is too much at stake for President Trump to be allowed to prevail …. even if it means running out the clock as this ruling is obviously designed to accomplish.
I’ not surprised. This is the same SCOTUS who decided that citizens don’t have standing to challenge election results.
I’m so old I remember way back when the Kavanaugh and Barrett confirmations were hailed as victories for the good guys.
What disappointments they have turned out to be.
Looking back, the Kavanaugh resistance was pure theatre. Grahams performance was the tell. The silk-on-glass smooth Confirmation of Barrett was also a red flag.
They had President Trump fighting so many battles when Phony Barrett was foisted on him/us there was no way to vet her even if he had people capable of such back then.
Which heavy lunch justice will be replaced because of health reasons and who will pop up out of nowhere to replace them moving forward?
The most important thing we’ve learned since Trump 2016 is that almost everything presented to us is a lie, with an ulterior motive often not recognizable at the time it occurs.
You seem to forget that Trump really didn’t have anything to do with judges appointed in his first term. He punted that responsibility to McConnell. They made a deal that the Senate would push through his agenda, if they could select the judges, including the SC. That’s how we wound up with all the terrible judges.
And now even SCOTUS doesn’t have standing. They are, however, sitting on their laurels which is causing atrophy of their brains!
Why hasn’t Roberts recused himself of the Supreme Court? Obviously he has a legal issue (adoption?) over his head!
It’s only a matter of time before Trump will be forced to do what Jackson and Lincoln did: to declare that these rulings will be ignored under Articles 1 & 2 of the Constitution as written.
Article 3 never gave any power of “review and consent” to the Judiciary. (Which is what even the SCOTUS is doing now.) The Founders knew what this would lead to. But the Court then simply assumed that power to itself, coining(!) the word, “unconstitutional.” (Which does not appear in the text.)
Founder Thomas Jefferson then immediately raised the alarm. No one listened or responded at the time.
Jackson was the first: “He has made his ruling. Now, let him enforce it.” Constitutionally, he was right.
Two hundred years ago, Congress gave the President the power to expel “alien enemies,” as he identified them. This is not “a criminal matter” as that law defines it – therefore, the expelled aliens do not have any right to appeal the President’s actions as though it was.
The Courts do not have the power to make or re-make Law, and the President does not have to follow what they do.
Article 3 never gave any power of “review and consent” to the Judiciary. (Which is what even the SCOTUS is doing now.)
It is a judicial veto. SCOTUS has ruled against Congress using the veto on the President, yet here they are doing it.
Amy Coney Barrett….
Useless lawyers.
Cernovich
@Cernovich
SCOTUS under John Roberts made J6’ers sit in prison for 3 years before deciding whether a never before used statute applied to misdemeanor trespass, converting a low level offense to a life-destroying felony.
SCOTUS dropped everything for illegal immigrant criminal gang members.
7:10 PM · May 16, 2025
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Per Article 1 Section 9 of our Constitution. The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. Time to suspend it.
Trump is becoming a lot more talk than action
Deport the Supreme Court and appoint a new one. The public would support it.
I am sorely disappointed, but not surprised,,,,,,it seems now that illegals have more right than me, after all, I am just an old/SS and Medicare grabbing/caucasian/heterosexual/Christian/WOMAN who loves Israel and has jewish children
Meanwhile get serious and start arresting those who facilitate illegal immigration. This is existing law that does not have to go to the Supreme Court.
We won’t see that done because we aren’t serious about this.
These illegal invaders of our country should be entitled to no more notice of deportation than they provided to the government before they illegally entered the country (documentation required). It sounds to me that the SCOTUS is saying that if you can find a way to break into the country without documentation legally then OUR BAD, YOUR GOOD! I really didn’t think that OUR Supreme Court would be so willing to sell out our citizens and require them to pay for criminal illegal aliens (and according to laws passed by Congress, entering the USA without proper application, approval and documentation is a federal crime). The least the Supreme Court could do is deny these criminals ANY and ALL assistance provided by our Treasury. Let the bleeding hearts come out of their pockets to pay for them. Let the same bleeding hearts house them, feed them, educate them, care for their health needs and supervise them–not an agency that steals money from the taxpayers–the bleeding hearts themselves!!
What happens next?
With regard to the Supreme Court, supposedly their main concern was maintaining some degree of legitimacy as an institution.
Now that they have lost the last little bit of credibility they may have had, what comes next?
Fine. Let them wait it out at Gitmo until then.
I feel sorry for Thomas, the poor guy will never be able to retire and go RVing.
This decision is a poster child for the Roberts court!
Defer to executive security power when it directly violates citizen constitutional rights (TSA), but deny executive security power when it involves illegal, criminal invaders. SCOTUS=FUBAR.
Kinda hard to believe these people on the SC treat these illegal aliens as American citizens with Rights!
Ignore the idiot 7 and keep moving forward. It’s a war and the 7 Supremes have proven to be on the other side.