Trump Appointed Judge: Trump Can't Use The Alien Enemies Act- Joyce Vance

[Amaryllis]

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/trump-appointed-judge-trump-cant?utm_source=substack&publication_id=607357&post_id=162625668&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=g20g&triedRedirect=true


Trump Appointed Judge: Trump Can't Use The Alien Enemies Act
Joyce Vance
May 01, 2025

It’s a rare midday post from me, but this is important breaking legal news!

A Trump-appointed judge in the Southern District of Texas, Fernando Rodriguez, Jr., has held that the Trump administration may not use the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua. Judge Rodriguez relied on the plain language of the statute in reaching his decision and wrote that the historical record makes it clear that this is a law intended for use during wartime. He is the first federal judge to hold that Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act exceeds the scope of what the law authorizes a president to do.

Before this point, court decisions have focused on the speedy deportations the administration has made without giving deportees due process in advance. Courts have swiftly forbidden that and Americans increasingly understand that due process applies to non-citizens and citizens alike, and that a denial of due process to anyone threatens a denial of due process to all.

Now we’ve reached the substantive issue in the case, which is whether the Alien Enemies Act gives Trump the authority to deport people. The government will appeal Judge Rodriguez’s decision holding it can’t do so to the heavily conservative Fifth Circuit. Whether they reverse or not, this has always been an issue that was destined to go to the Supreme Court for resolution. They will have multiple options:

Affirm or reverse (as the case may be) the Court of Appeals without hearing the case themselves.

Agree to hear the case, expedite it, and decide it this term. This term of Court should end no later than the first week in July.

Take the case and set it for next term, which would leave the issue undecided until at least next fall.

Of course, how this plays out likely depends on how quickly the Fifth Circuit rules. The government may petition the Court to skip over the Circuit and take the case immediately, as it is inevitably headed there. We saw the Court decline to take that approach in Trump v. U.S., the case involving Trump’s immunity from criminal prosecution.

If the Fifth Circuit moves expeditiously, the second option seems to be the most likely one, although it would require a fast schedule for briefing and for oral argument. Now that the damn is broken, it’s possible that judges in other circuits will weigh in as well.

The Judge makes it clear that the government can continue to deport people under other immigration authorities, so long as their due process rights are satisfied. His ruling applies to the plaintiffs who brought the case, as well as to a class of similarly situated people in the Southern District of Texas. Following the Supreme Court’s decision last month, there can’t be nationwide habeas relief. Instead, lawyers have to file proceedings like this in each of the 94 federal districts in the country where people challenging the government’s ability to deport them either reside or are being held.

Now you’re up to date!

Thanks for reading Civil Discourse. I know you have an increasing number of choices on Substack—I get more and more of my news from my favorites here. So I appreciate your decision to stick with me and support me.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

Share

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. 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.
https://bsky.app/profile/photoframd.bsky.social/post/3lo5gx4mso22b

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.