Step aside, Judge James Boasberg. The Supreme Court handed the Donald Trump Administration something of a win on Monday night when it comes to using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals, including violent Tren de Aragua gang members.
In a 5-4 decision, the court agreed with Trump’s appeal to vacate last month’s orders from the federal court that halted the administration from removing noncitizens. The court also said that anyone who wishes to challenge the president’s use of the 18th century wartime law must do so in Texas, not in Washington, D.C.
The three liberal Justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented in full, but does anyone want to guess who joined them? It was none other than Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who issued a partial dissent.
Barrett contended that her colleagues’ “decision to intervene in this litigation is as inexplicable as it is dangerous.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi called it a “landmark victory for the rule of law,” adding that “an activist judge in Washington, D.C. does not have the jurisdiction to seize control of President Trump’s authority to conduct foreign policy and keep the American people safe.”
BREAKING: The Supreme Court sides with the Trump Administration on the Alien Enemies Act.
Tonight’s decision is a landmark victory for the rule of law. An activist judge in Washington, DC does not have the jurisdiction to seize control of President Trump’s authority to conduct…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) April 7, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared on Fox News on Monday night after the decision was announced and called it a “massive victory for law and order and for our constitutional republic and the sovereignty of the United States of America.”
“We called on the Supreme Court to reign in these activist judges, like Judge Boasberg, who was completely out of line in trying to say that the president didn’t have the executive authority to deport foreign terrorists off of our soil,” Leavitt said, adding that President Trump will “continue to use the Alien Enemies Act to remove foreign terrorists and Tren de Aragua members, viscous gang members, from our communities, and because of this ruling, the United States of America will be a much safer place.”
Leavitt also said that Trump’s team will get back to work as soon as tomorrow on deportations.
Flashback: ‘Oopsie…Too Late’: Gang Members Arrive in El Salvador Despite Activist Judge’s Orders
This all started back on March 15 when Trump used the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador’s infamous mega prison because Venezuela wouldn’t take them back. Boasberg, who is a U.S. District Judge, put a temporary two-week pause on the plan. A federal appeals court upheld the order in a 2-1 decision on March 26.
According to SCOTUSblog, “Sarah Harris, then the acting U.S. solicitor general, came to the Supreme Court on March 28, asking the justices to allow the Trump administration to enforce the March 15 order. The dispute, she contended, ‘presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security operations in this country – the President … or the Judiciary.’ Harris told the justices that the ‘Constitution supplies a clear answer: the President.'”
You can read the entire ruling for yourself here, including the unsigned four-page opinion, Sotomayor’s seventeen-page dissent, and Jackson’s extra two-page dissent.
While they may have gotten a win on Monday night, the Trump administration is facing an uphill battle against Democrats, the media, and liberal activist judges. At PJ Media, we promise to always strive to tell you what’s really going on, along with in-depth analysis.
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