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President Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court after the justices blocked him from making any new deportations using antiterrorism powers under the Alien Enemies Act, begging the justices to “come to the rescue of America.”
The high court on Friday ruled that Mr. Trump’s team was shortchanging illegal immigrants’ “due process” rights by not giving them enough time to challenge impending deportations in federal courts.
The justices hit pause on deportations and ordered lower courts to figure out how much time the illegal immigrants should be given.
But they said it must be more than the one day that the Trump administration had suggested was good enough, and they said the administration must tell the deportation targets how to sue.
“Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,” the court said in an unsigned opinion.
Mr. Trump, in a social media blitz over the weekend, re-posted a series of attacks on the decision by Mike Davis, a former Supreme Court clerk and now head of the Article III Project, who said the justices were “heading down a perilous path.”
“Let’s get this straight: Obama can drone [strike] Americans. But Trump can’t repel foreign terrorists. Biden can import over 10 million illegal aliens. But Trump can’t send them home without years of court process. The American people never agreed to this,” Mr. Davis said.
In another post Mr. Trump boosted, Mr. Davis urged the president to “house these terrorists near the Chevy Chase County Club, with daytime release.”
Chevy Chase is a wealthy neighborhood on the border of Maryland and Washington, D.C., long known for being the home of high government officials, currently including Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
“The Supreme Court must come to the rescue of America,” Mr. Trump wrote.
At issue are Venezuelans who Mr. Trump says are members of Tren de Aragua, a gang the government has declared a foreign terrorist organization and which Mr. Trump has proclaimed to be engaged in an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” into the U.S.
Using those decisions, he invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that allows for faster deportations that would usually happen under the regular immigration law.
It was that power that Mr. Trump used to send more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador in March, in three controversial flights that ignited a tsunami of litigation.
The justices, in their ruling Friday, said Mr. Trump can still deport them under the regular immigration law, but cannot use the AEA until the courts figure out what sort of rights the migrants are due.
The justices also said they have yet to rule on whether Mr. Trump’s invocation of the AEA is proper, suggesting they may still block him altogether in a future case.
Dissenting from Friday’s decision were Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas, who said the court lacked jurisdiction to get involved at this point.
“From the court’s order, it is not entirely clear whether the court has silently decided issues that go beyond the question of interim relief. (I certainly hope that it has not.) But if it has done so, today’s order is doubly extraordinary,” Justice Alito wrote.
“Granting certiorari before a court of appeals has entered a judgment is a sharp departure from usual practice,” he said.
His opinion also questioned the high court’s insistence on due process rights for the illegal immigrants.
“Due process is flexible, we have stressed repeatedly, and it calls for such procedural protections as the particular situation demands,” Justice Alito wrote.
Lawyers for the Venezuelans dispute the claims of TdA membership, saying some of those who have been deported actually fled Venezuela to get away from the gang.
They say the Venezuelans must have a chance to make that argument in court before they can be shipped out under the AEA.
“The use of a wartime authority during peacetime, without even affording due process, raises issues of profound importance,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who has battled the administration over deportations.
He called Friday’s court’s decision “a powerful rebuke” to the administration.
As part of the March flights to El Salvador the administration also ousted dozens of Salvadorans whom the government says are part of MS-13, another international gang the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.
One of those is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was arrested by immigration officers in Maryland just days before he was deported.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who has been working to un-deport him, unleashed a new fusillade of criticism on the government Friday, questioning whether the Trump administration is showing good faith in trying to bring him back.
She said it was tough to square government lawyers’ assurances against remarks of Mr. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who have said Mr. Abrego Garcia won’t be returning.
“You’ve done nothing, and now you tell the world you’re not going to do anything,” Judge Xinis told the Justice Department in a hearing Friday.
The White House has said El Salvador won’t release Mr. Abrego Garcia. Mr. Trump has said he could bring the man back, but hasn’t seen a need to — and said he’s deferring to his aides.
Ms. Noem testified on Capitol Hill this month that Mr. Abrego Garcia won’t be allowed to return.
“That sounds to me like an admission of your client that your client will not take steps to facilitate the return,” Judge Xinis said.
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