President Donald Trump has been trying to use the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport criminal illegal immigrants from this country.
This is a wartime law, but Trump was trying to portray the acts of illegal arrivals as an act of war against the country.
After the U.S. Supreme Court had stayed the order for further consideration, an appellate court issued its final ruling, disallowing the use of the law.
In April, the Supreme Court issued a stay on the lower court’s order to block Trump's use of the AEA to deport criminal illegal immigrants from the notorious TdA gang.
At the time, the ruling was touted as a huge win for the Trump administration, but as we stated at the time, it was only a temporary one.
The Court issued the stay to allow litigation to play out in the lower courts, as this was not a final ruling.
Even then, the Court had only ruled by a 5-4 margin, so there was clearly still some doubt on the conservative side of the aisle as to whether Trump could use a wartime act to avoid providing due process to illegal migrants, regardless of any nefarious activities in which they may have engaged.
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court made its final ruling in the case, deciding by a 2-1 margin that the administration could not expedite the removal of these illegals using the AEA, much as I had suspected would happen.
The court contended that the legislation was not intended for such use when it was initially passed. Plaintiff attorney Lee Gelernt, working for the American Civil Liberties Union, stated, "The Trump administration’s use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court."
He continued, "This is a critically important decision reining in the administration’s view that it can simply declare an emergency without any oversight by the courts."
For as much as we may dislike the ruling, it is the correct one, and I had repeatedly stated that I did not expect the courts to allow this law, which is clearly a wartime measure, to be used in this way. However, I had further stated that Congress could do something about the situation by passing legislation to expedite the removal of criminal illegals, but such individuals must still receive due process, per our Constitution.
Tuesday was a rough day for Trump, and he was also blocked from firing an appointed member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Again, the decision came down 2-1 against the administration, with the panel ruling, "The government has no likelihood of success on appeal given controlling and directly on point Supreme Court precedent," adding "bucking such precedent is not within this court's job description."
This was in response to Trump's dismissal of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. Again, this was Trump challenging the status quo, as these appointments have always been off-limits in terms of presidential firing.
While presidents make these appointments, the commissions themselves are meant to operate independently, with the only exception being absolute proof of wrongdoing on the part of the official at issue. This is what makes Trump’s removal of Fed Governor Lisa Cook so interesting. I have conceded that Trump jumped the gun in terminating her, but if an indictment comes down for mortgage fraud, he has a far better case. And if she is convicted, I just don’t see how the court can support her remaining at her post, considering the nature of the alleged crime.
