Trump-Appointed Judge Foils Stephen Miller's Grand Plan

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/heather-digby-parton/113751/trump-appointed-judge-foils-stephen-miller-s-grand-plan

Trump-Appointed Judge Foils Stephen Miller’s Grand Plan
by Heather Digby Parton | May 3, 2025 - 5:35am

— from Salon

Finally. Due process for the Trump administration's immigrant detainees has been the single most important issue for the courts to address. While it was a relief that the Supreme Court weighed in with an order that all detainees must be allowed the right of habeas corpus, until this week, no judge had ruled on the underlying applicability at the heart of the policy: Trump's invocation of the 1789 Alien Enemies Act. On Thursday, a Trump-appointed judge ordered all deportations in his district to stop. Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a federal judge in Texas and member of the Federalist Society, ruled that it's ridiculous to define the presence of Venezuelan gang members in the country as an “invasion” or “predatory incursion."

snip//

A video went viral via the Rupert Murdoch media empire in August, with Fox News and The New York Post hyping footage of armed men in the hallways of an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado. As New York Times reporter Jonathan Weissman recounts, it "metastasized into grandiose stories of whole buildings, whole sections of town and, in Mr. Trump’s telling, the whole city of Aurora being taken over by migrants carrying weapons of war." It turned out that the story was made up by the slumlord who owned the building to excuse his neglect and some of the locals who had pumped up the story later recanted.

But that idea of armed migrants carrying weapons of war was the hook Miller had been looking for and soon Trump was talking about the Alien Enemies Act at his campaign rallies, saying that the gang had “invaded and conquered” America, which he called an “occupied state." He spent the rest of the campaign building up this idea of America being invaded by criminals.

snip//

The United States is not El Salvador, then or now. We are not at war with Venezuela or any country. Crime has been going down for years now, especially violent crime. (We do have a sickening amount of gun violence but that's the last thing Trump wants to curb, and it's hardly an immigrant problem.) 350 million Americans are not clamoring to be "liberated," at least not from some obscure street gang that nobody had heard of until Stephen Miller and Donald Trump made them into poster boys for their anti-immigrant crusade.

One would hope that the Supreme Court will rule that this misuse of the Alien Enemies Act is illegal, as anyone who can read English can see. If their past behavior is any guide, I'd guess it's going to be a while before they do it. But at least we have one judge, who nobody can claim is a biased lefty, finally saying the obvious. It's about time.

[iluvtennis]

1. Awesome news! One little step at a time. n/t

[liberalla]

2. Some great lines here

Excellent decision by Judge Rodriguez. Thank you!

(We do have a sickening amount of gun violence but that's the last thing Trump wants to curb, and it's hardly an immigrant problem.)

[ReRe]

3. K&R

Damn right! The SC needs to get the lead out!!! Hypnotized GD Republicans in the House and the Senate are not going to wake up. 18 months is too GD long to wait. Is the SC waiting for John Q. Public to surround the White House and stand in the door well of Adm agencies before they do something???

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Deadline: Legal Blog---Trump-appointed judge calls Trump's Alien Enemies Act invocation 'unlawful'

The Texas judge’s ruling is significant because it dealt head-on with the merits of the wartime law. It’s not the last word on the issue.

Trump-appointed judge calls Trump’s Alien Enemies Act invocation ‘unlawful’. The Texas judge’s ruling is significant because it dealt head-on with the merits of the wartime law. #Deportation
www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...

— 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗱 (@photoframd.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T23:16:44.816Z

Trump-appointed judge calls Trump’s Alien Enemies Act invocation ‘unlawful’. The Texas judge’s ruling is significant because it dealt head-on with the merits of the wartime law.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/alien-enemies-act-invocation-unlawful-rcna204232

President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act has faced intense preliminary litigation in courts around the country, leading to rulings such as the Supreme Court’s insistence that people potentially subject to the act must receive due process. But a new and significant ruling from a Trump-appointed judge on Thursday gets to the heart of the matter, deeming the president’s invocation itself “unlawful.”

The 1798 act was previously used only during declared wars. The text of the act says it’s for “[w]henever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government.”.....

The Trump appointee reviewed the historical record from the time of the act’s passage and found that the terms “invasion” or “predatory incursion” are meant to refer to “an organized, armed force entering the United States to engage in conduct destructive of property and human life in a specific geographical area.” Applying that background to Trump’s proclamation, the judge said TdA’s activities as described in the proclamation don’t qualify under the act.

While this is just one ruling from one (Trump-appointed) judge in one district, it shows the difficulty the administration could face in ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court on the merits of the issue. Other trial and appellate court judges around the country could also favorably cite Rodriguez’s ruling if they agree with it, though they wouldn’t be bound by it. Trial judges are bound by appellate rulings in their circuits, and all judges are bound by the Supreme Court. Rodriguez sits in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the most conservative circuit, which would typically be the next step on the appellate chain if the government chooses to challenge the ruling.

In any event, Rodriguez’s decision doesn’t prevent the administration from using normal immigration authorities outside the rarely used act to carry out deportations.

The new ruling also underscores the illegality of the administration having already summarily removed people to El Salvador under the act and deposited them into a notorious prison there. Lawyers are also pressing to get them returned to the United States. And the ruling comes as the administration fights against returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who was also illegally deported to that country (albeit not under the Alien Enemies invocation).

The invocation of the Alien Enemies Act is not supported by the law and I am shocked that it has taken this long for a court to rule on this act. I saw that trump is appealing directly to SCOTUS and by passing the 5th Circuit. This will be fun to watch.