The U.S. Supreme Court is jumping headfirst into turbulent waters with issues that have become politically divisive.
The 18th-century wartime authority to speed deportations known as the Alien Enemies Act is back in the high court’s hands.
Less than two weeks after the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to employ the controversial authority, the issue was literally rocketed back to the justices in a short fuse appeal.
The consequences are enormous. So what’s really at issue here?
Initially, the court issued a 5-4 ruling that wasn’t very transparent. It basically placated both sides.
Now, the court will revisit the issue. It is being asked again to stop the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act on a permanent basis.
In the interim, the justices issued a rare overnight order with a majority blocking the Trump administration from deporting a group of immigrants in Texas. Two conservatives — Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — dissented from the decision.
The Trump administration told the court it wants the authority to remove the Venezuelans detained in Texas under laws other than the controversial Alien Enemies Act while the litigation over their potential deportations continues.
There are other cases playing out in New York, Colorado and Texas. The question is, where does this land? The ball is in the Supreme Court’s hands.
The SupCo is also going to hear oral arguments on another momentous question: What is the extent of lower court judges’ power to block a president’s policies nationwide?
If the high court grants the Trump administration’s request to limit or lift three nationwide injunctions blocking his bid to end birthright citizenship, it could cripple the ability of Trump’s opponents to seek — and judges’ ability to grant — such blocks entirely.
The president’s lawyers say limits such as those on the executive branch keep it from functioning properly.
President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice asked the justices to limit lower courts’ nationwide injunction powers. The justices didn’t take up the request.
But the conservative justices have been very public about their desire to restrain the broad applications of nationwide injunctions.
The Supreme Court’s decision to weigh the power could dramatically impact how Trump’s policies are applied across the country.
Without nationwide blocks, some policies, such as birthright citizenship, could be put on hold in certain states while allowed to take effect in others as litigation plays out.
Constitutional law expert Rod Sullivan joins me to discuss how these issues before the court might pan out and impact the nation.
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