No Clear Winner in Supreme Court’s Alien Enemies Act Ruling
The Venezuelan immigrants the Trump administration alleges are gang members can’t be deported without a hearing.
Even in these circumstances, due process applies.
Photographer: Handout by Salvadoran Government/Getty Images
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Venezuelan immigrants accused of belonging to a gang and slated for deportation by the Trump administration have the right to a judicial hearing before they can be sent out of the country.
The court split 5-4 on where the hearings should be held and under what legal principle. The conservatives, minus Justice Amy Coney Barrett, said the Venezuelans must file petitions for habeas corpus in Texas, where they are being held. Barrett and the three liberal justices would have allowed the detainees’ lawsuit to continue in Washington DC, where it was filed. Either way, the men will get their day in court to argue that it is unlawful to deport them under the Alien Enemies Act.