After
remarkable Supreme Court rebuke, Trump administration slams ‘meritless
litigation’
The White
House’s statement comes as the Trump administration faces a firestorm of
criticism from Democrats and legal experts over due process and the rule of
law.
In an
apparent 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to
pause any plans to deport a group of Venezuelan men in north Texas. |
By Ali
Bianco
04/19/2025
04:56 PM EDT
Updated:
04/19/2025 06:00 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/19/supreme-court-trump-immigration-ruling-00299717
The White
House slammed the flood of lawsuits against its deportation agenda following a
Supreme Court ruling that will temporarily block its efforts to deport
Venezuelan nationals in Texas under the Alien Enemies Act.
The rebuke
of the litigation — and the Trump administration’s claims that it is following
the rule of law — comes amid an onslaught of criticism from Democrats and legal
experts who have blasted President Donald Trump for igniting what they have
described as a growing constitutional crisis that threatens the due process of
immigrants across the country.
“We are
confident in the lawfulness of the Administration’s actions and in ultimately
prevailing against an onslaught of meritless litigation brought by radical
activists who care more about the rights of terrorist aliens than those of the
American people,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told POLITICO in
a statement.
The
statement was issued more than 12 hours after a remarkable loss for the
administration in front of the nation’s highest court. In an apparent 7-2
decision, the Supreme Court ordered the administration to pause any plans to
deport a group of Venezuelan men in north Texas, following a mad dash by the
ACLU to prevent what it was calling a violation of due process for immigrants
receiving notice of their “imminent” removal. Justices Samuel Alito and
Clarence Thomas publicly dissented.
The ruling
from the Supreme Court was astonishing, coming in the early morning Saturday,
mere hours after a challenge was filed by attorneys representing the migrants.
It came so quickly that some lower courts had not yet ruled and the government
had not even submitted a response to the Supreme Court — and so fast that
Alito’s statement dissenting from the decision was only noted as “to follow,”
having still not yet been released as of Saturday afternoon.
Shortly
after the White House’s statement, the Justice Department submitted a response
to what it called an “unprecedented injunction” from the high court. The DOJ
emphasized that an appeals court early Saturday morning rejected a motion from
the ACLU as premature, and that the group of immigrants in north Texas had not
yet been certified as a class.
The
response, penned by Solicitor General D. John Sauer, asks the court to, at a
minimum, clarify that its order does not preclude the administration from
deporting the Venezuelan detainees in Texas under other authorities beyond the
AEA.
Several
Democrats called the decision a win, saying the high court stopped illegal
deportations and what Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez called an “out of control”
Trump administration from removing immigrants with potentially less than 24
hours notice.
“These men
were in imminent danger of spending their lives in a horrific foreign prison
without ever having had a chance to go to court,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt
told POLITICO Saturday. “We are relieved that the Supreme Court has not
permitted the administration to whisk them away the way others were just last
month.”
The ruling
is the latest influencing a growing battle between Democrats and Republicans on
how the Trump administration will enforce court orders and the rule of law.
Trump has
increasingly taken shots at lower court judges for issuing nationwide stops on
his immigration agenda. He launched personal attacks on U.S. District Court
Judge James Boasberg — who ordered the administration to turn around planes
during the first AEA deportations in March, which the administration ignored —
and at appeals court judges who have further blocked the administration’s
policy.
Leavitt’s
Saturday afternoon statement did not target any Supreme Court justice, although
Trump has criticized them in the past when they ruled against him. While only
Alito and Thomas publicly noted how they ruled in the decision, it is possible,
if not likely, that all three of the president’s picks on the court from his
first term ruled against him here: Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney
Barrett.
Notably,
many of Trump’s normally verbose cadre of communication staffers have not
weighed in on the ruling on social media. But a post on Saturday from the White
House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, Paul Ingrassia, dressed
down the U.S. judicial system, claiming the high court is actively working
against the president and is “infected with a parasitical ideology that denies
reason and common sense.”
“The judges
in law courts today, including the majority in the nation’s Highest Court, have
absolutely no understanding of law and its proper function and role,” Ingrassia
wrote, taking a shot at the Supreme Court’s conservative, Trump-appointed
justices.
Democrats
and legal experts have accused the administration of violating the rule of law
by defying an earlier Supreme Court order to “facilitate” the return of
illegally deported Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and the district
court order to turn around deportation flights in March.
The
administration said in court filings that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was an
“administrative error,” as he had an active court order barring his removal to
El Salvador for fear of persecution. Trump and his top advisers have been clear
that they believe Abrego Garcia will remain in El Salvador.
Top Trump
officials slammed Democrats this week for coming to Abrego Garcia’s defense,
branding Democrats as backing an alleged MS-13 gang member while Trump
platforms families who’ve suffered violence by undocumented immigrants. A
federal judge has previously said the government’s evidence that he is a gang
member is flimsy.
“If he
tattoos like MS-13, beats women like MS-13, and tramples the law like
MS-13—THEN HE’S PROBABLY MS-13,” the White House posted on X on Saturday. Other
accounts connected to Trump, including Trump’s War Room, are coalescing around
one message: “DeMS-13.”
After
Saturday’s early morning ruling, some avid Trump supporters are questioning
whether the administration should follow Supreme Court orders and allow
immigrants to face individual trials. An April 7 Supreme Court ruling that
vacated the lower court’s block on deportations under the AEA said that all
immigrants accused of being an “alien enemy” must be given notice and
reasonable time to challenge their deportation in court.
But Trump
backer and billionaire Bill Ackman posted that having courts individually try
the cases of millions of immigrants will cause the country to “lose the values
our democratic system was intended to preserve.”
“This is the
hard truth,” Elon Musk — the billionaire Tesla CEO and special adviser to Trump
— posted on X, agreeing with Ackman. Some members of Congress have also
reposted Ackman’s assertion.
Top Trump
adviser Stephen Miller cast doubt on Saturday on what that due process looks
like for these migrants under the second Trump administration, while reposting
others questioning how judges can shut down what they have called Trump’s
election mandate to enact deportations.
“We live in
a society where foreign alien terrorists have unlimited free legal
representation,” Miller wrote on X. “But Americans whose communities have been
stolen from them are left without recourse. We are rebalancing the scales.”
Trump stated
previously that he does intend to follow court orders, but he has also pushed
back at how much authority the courts have over his executive power on
immigration. His administration has argued the courts cannot compel him in the
foreign policy sphere.
“We’re
getting them out. And that’s why I was elected. A judge wasn’t elected to do
that — I was elected to do that. And we’re doing it in record fashion,” Trump
told reporters on Friday.
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