The Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Donald Trump to enforce the Alien Enemies Act for now, handing the White House a significant victory that will let immigration officials rely on a sweeping wartime authority to rapidly deport alleged gang members.
The unsigned decision in the case, the most closely watched emergency appeal pending at the Supreme Court, lets Trump invoke the 1798 law to speed removals while litigation over the act’s use plays out in lower courts. The court stressed that people deported going forward should receive notice they are subject to the act and an opportunity to have their removal reviewed.
The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the decision, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a member of the court’s conservative wing, partially dissented.
Trump framed his emergency appeal as a fight over judicial power and, specifically, US District Judge James Boasberg’s order that temporarily blocked the president from enforcing the Alien Enemies Act against five Venezuelans who sued and a broader class of people who might be affected — in other words, anyone else. By granting the president’s request, the Supreme Court has tossed out Boasberg’s orders.
Critically, the court made clear in its unsigned order that officials must give migrants subject to Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation adequate notice that they are being removed pursuant to the wartime authority so that they have time to bring habeas complaints.
A key concern among attorneys representing the migrants has been that the government’s rush to remove migrants under the act leaves them with little to no time to file such legal claims.
“The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the justices wrote, adding: “The detainees subject to removal orders under the AEA are entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal.”
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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