Trump went off on the U.S. Supreme Court after it prevented him from using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to expedite the deportations of Venezuelans being detained in Texas.
His main objection is that the plaintiffs demanded a preliminary injunction with an extremely short deadline upon which they would consider a lack of ruling to be a “constructive denial” which they would appeal, which is highly irregular. He does not meaningfully address the reason for that irregular action, namely the government’s attempts to outrun the judicial process and deport people to El Salvador, from which it claims it cannot return them. Alito claims the courts should rely on the government’s statement that it would not deport the plaintiffs before their hearing.
Under normal circumstances, Alito would be correct. The government normally doesn’t try to do illegal things before the courts can stop them and it would be inappropriate for a plaintiff to apply the extreme time pressure seen here. These are not normal times and the rest of the court appears to recognize that.
I read Alito’s dissent.
His main objection is that the plaintiffs demanded a preliminary injunction with an extremely short deadline upon which they would consider a lack of ruling to be a “constructive denial” which they would appeal, which is highly irregular. He does not meaningfully address the reason for that irregular action, namely the government’s attempts to outrun the judicial process and deport people to El Salvador, from which it claims it cannot return them. Alito claims the courts should rely on the government’s statement that it would not deport the plaintiffs before their hearing.
Under normal circumstances, Alito would be correct. The government normally doesn’t try to do illegal things before the courts can stop them and it would be inappropriate for a plaintiff to apply the extreme time pressure seen here. These are not normal times and the rest of the court appears to recognize that.