WASHINGTON — A fight over the fate of six migrants the Trump administration wants to deport to South Sudan flared up again on Tuesday as the Justice Department accused a federal judge of “unprecedented defiance” of a Supreme Court decision the previous day.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed a motion at the Supreme Court seeking clarification of the Monday evening decision that lifted nationwide restrictions on the administration’s ability to send convicted criminals to “third countries” they have no connection to.
The move from the Trump administration comes as the government itself has been accused of violating court orders, including by the judge handling the deportation case, Massachusetts-based U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, who has come under heavy fire from MAGA world.
Immediately after the Supreme Court action, Murphy said in a docket entry that he did not believe the justices blocked his May 21 order that prevented the six people being sent to South Sudan. The detainees are currently being held in a U.S. facility in Djibouti.
Murphy’s understanding was that the high court had blocked only his earlier ruling that set nationwide rules giving those affected a “meaningful opportunity” to bring claims that they would be at risk of torture, persecution or death if they were sent to countries the administration has made deals with to receive deported immigrants.
The Supreme Court itself did not explain its decision and did not specify which of Murphy’s rulings were blocked. But liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote a dissenting opinion, said she did not think Murphy’s May 21 decision was affected.
Sauer now wants the Supreme Court to explain exactly what it meant. He also suggested the court could kick Murphy off the case entirely.
“The district court’s ruling of last night is a lawless act of defiance that, once again, disrupts sensitive diplomatic relations and slams the brakes on the executive’s lawful efforts to effectuate third-country removals,” he wrote in the new filing.
“This court should immediately make clear that the district court’s enforcement order has no effect, and put a swift end to the ongoing irreparable harm to the executive branch and its agents, who remain under baseless threat of contempt as they are forced to house dangerous criminal aliens at a military base in the Horn of Africa that now lies on the borders of a regional conflict,” he added.
Lawyers for the immigrants are expected to quickly file a response to the Justice Department’s filing.
In an interview with Fox News on Monday evening, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, had previewed further action on the issue.
“The district court judge in Boston has said he’s going to defy the Supreme Court’s ruling,” Miller said. “Expect fireworks tomorrow when we hold this judge accountable for refusing to obey the Supreme Court.”
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