Breaking News: The Supreme Court Rules??????

The Supreme Court allows Trump to use the Alien Enemy's Act late last night or did it?

Supreme Court lifts hold on Venezuelan deportations to El Salvador for now

A divided court said migrants filed their challenge to the Alien Enemies Act in the wrong jurisdiction but also said potential deportees must get due process

The Washington Post

By Justin Jouvenal and Ann E. Marimow

April 7, 2025

A divided Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to use a controversial wartime authority to deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, but said detainees must first have an opportunity to challenge their deportations.

The 5-4 ruling did not touch on the underlying legal questions about the government’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, one of the most high-profile and contentious immigration enforcement actions so far in President Donald Trump’s second term.

Instead, the majority ruled that the five Venezuelan immigrants who challenged the policy did so in the wrong court, leaving open the possibility that those targeted for deportation could refile their case in Texas or other jurisdictions where they are detained.

“The detainees are confined in Texas, so venue is improper in the District of Columbia,” the justices wrote of the challenge in U.S. District Court in D.C. “As a result, the Government is likely to succeed on the merits of this action.”

Wait a minute contrary to all the headlines on the front pages this morning it seems like the court said... no cigar, try again in the right court.

Some of the headlines this morning...

• Al Jazeera: US Supreme Court upholds deportations under Alien Enemies Act
• BBC: US Supreme Court allows Trump to use Alien Enemies Act for deportations
• Fox News: Supreme Court grants Trump request to lift stay halting Venezuelan deportations
• NPR: Supreme Court backs Trump in controversial deportations case
• The New York Times: Supreme Court Overturns Block on Trump Administration’s Venezuelan Deportations

Now don't those headline sound like a major defeat for the Venezuelan immigrants?

The ruling said detainees are entitled to notice within a reasonable time frame and must have an opportunity to challenge their removal, including the government’s use of the wartime act.

The decision appears to take the central legal issues of the case away from Judge James E. Boasberg of U.S. District Court in Washington, whose temporary restraining order blocking the deportations prompted impeachment calls from Trump and his allies and triggered a showdown between the president and the judiciary.

So I would say that this ruling muddles the water a lot on the issue of deportation. It looks to me like it was kind of a draws down to: Trump won the use of the Act, but the Venezuelan immigrants won the right to challenge the deportations in court.