In what is being called “lawfare 2.0,” federal district court judges have been blocking the implementation of Donald Trump’s executive orders related to birthright citizenship, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices, the ban on transgender service members in the military, and the shuttering of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to name a few.
In two of the more high-profile court challenges, Trump’s invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act that led to the mass deportation of suspected Tren de Aragua gang members has been under intense scrutiny after D.C. District Judge James Boasberg objected to their removal. Meanwhile, San Francisco District Court Judge William Alsup tried to reinstate thousands of federal workers after an executive order called for the termination of nonessential employees.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the Trump administration some key wins in these legal cases that may help curb judicial activism in the lower courts moving forward. On Wednesday’s show, Megyn broke down the SCOTUS decisions and what they mean for the other cases against Trump’s policies.
The Alien Enemies Act
As reported on Tuesday’s AM Update, the Supreme Court lifted the injunction on Trump’s deportations of suspected Venezuelan gang members in a 5-4 decision Monday, saying the D.C. district court did not have proper jurisdiction of the matter. Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court’s three liberals in the dissent.
The majority found that while the illegal immigrants deserve some measure of due process prior to removal (as the Trump administration had conceded), those hearings must be held in so-called habeas proceedings (i.e. before an immigration judge and in the jurisdiction in which the migrants are detained).
In this case, that would have been Texas, not Washington, D.C. As a result, Judge Boasberg did not have the authority to hear this case and his orders trying to stop the deportations and turn around the flights carrying the migrants were improper.
Despite the media coverage, Megyn said the Trump team got what they wanted. “There is a silver lining of sorts for his opponents because they will be getting more due process than they had been, but, make no mistake about it, Trump won this battle and it was for really important reasons,” she noted. “Trump got virtually everything he wanted.”
The “virtually” has to do with the court’s position on due process. “The one point on which the Trump administration… didn’t get a sweeping declaration allowing them to proceed unbridled was on… whether these detainees have the right to any due process at all,” Megyn explained. “Under the Supreme Court ruling, [the administration is] going to have to, if the immigrants demand it – provide them with notice that this is why they are being removed and the opportunity for a habeas review.”
The bottom line: The Trump administration may continue to summarily remove suspected gang members under the Alien Enemies Act, and individual hearings on deportations, if at all, will happen in immigration courts where detainees are held once arrested.
Mistaken Deportation
SCOTUS also weighed in on the case of a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who the Department of Justice admitted was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Last week, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland ordered the government to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia by 11:59 p.m. on Monday.
Authorities arrested Abrego Garcia on March 12 in Baltimore. He was deported to El Salvador on March 15. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have since said he was inadvertently included on a flight manifest that should have only included people cleared for deportation to the country. The Trump administration maintains Abrego Garcia is a MS-13 gang member.
Abrego Garcia was in the U.S. illegally but had protection from being removed to one country – his native El Salvador – after an immigration court earlier found a likelihood of danger to him there. The High Court ruled the government did not have to meet the midnight deadline, but the decision does not settle the underlying dispute of whether Abrego Garcia has a right to additional due process before he is deported from the U.S. That battle will play out in the lower courts.
Firing Federal Workers
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court once again backed the Trump administration, blocking a lower court order demanding that the rehiring of thousands of provisional federal employees let go in mass layoffs. Last month, Clinton-appointed District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ordered the administration to reinstate approximately 16,000 provisional employees across six federal agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.
In a 7-2 decision backed by all but Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court ruled the organizations bringing the case lacked standing because individual workers were not involved in the suit. The unsigned order leaves open the possibility for terminated employees to bring their own challenges under the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Net-Net
All told, Megyn said these decisions should serve as cautionary tales. “I really hope it’s a lesson to all district court judges because the thrust of… [the] dissent was ‘What are we taking this for so quickly?’ because they love the delay of the nationwide injunctions,” she explained. “In the normal appellate and, certainly, Supreme Court schedule, [they’ll] get to it in like three years after the Democrats have won the House in the midterms.”
Fortunately, Megyn said, the majority saw it another way. “Thankfully, the majority of the court took it, and the majority of the court reversed Boasberg. He has been slapped down and so have a couple of other district court judges this week,” she concluded “Trump is on a little winning streak right now with the Supreme Court… and I hope these district court judges are paying attention because they really don’t like to get reversed.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,045 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.