Contrary to the president’s reaction, the Supreme Court on Friday emphasized that the government can still conduct normal removals.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday was significant for checking President Donald Trump’s attempt to use the Alien Enemies Act for deportations with little notice to the people targeted for removal. But the decision didn’t go as far as the president claimed in response, when he published on his social media platform: “THE SUPREME COURT WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!”
It’s true that the ruling kept a hold on the government removing certain people under that particular wartime authority, which had only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, all during declared wars. Judges around the country have almost uniformly deemed Trump’s invocation illegal. The justices have yet to decide the ultimate legality of the act’s use in this situation.
But the court ended its ruling Friday by emphasizing: “The Government may remove the named plaintiffs or putative class members under other lawful authorities.”
That is, nothing stops the government from carrying out removals the way it always has, under long-approved methods that don’t require courts to analyze novel questions about the president’s attempt to use the apparently inapplicable 18th century act. Especially if the Supreme Court ultimately rejects Trump’s use of the act, that would affirm that the administration (not the court) has needlessly made its own deportation efforts more difficult.
