The U.S. Supreme Court is shown March 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
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The Supreme Court on Friday granted a preliminary injunction that extends a pause on deportations of Venezuelan immigrants in Texas under the Alien Enemies Act.
President Trump had invoked the 18-century wartime law to quickly deport foreigners deemed a threat to the U.S.
The Supreme Court said the government didn’t give people at a detention center in Texas enough time to argue against their deportations.
It overruled an order from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had said it didn’t have jurisdiction over the case and said the Venezuelans had appealed too quickly after a lower court ruled against them. But the Supreme Court disagreed.
“Here the District Court’s inaction—not for 42 minutes but for 14 hours and 28 minutes—had the practical effect of refusing an injunction to detainees facing an imminent threat of severe, irreparable harm,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion. “Accordingly, we vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals.”
The Supreme Court said its order was meant to preserve its jurisdiction over the case while letting lower courts decide how much notice should be given to people the government wants to remove quickly under the Alien Enemies Act. It said it’s not directly addressing whether Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was legal.
“We have long held that ‘no person shall be’ removed from the United States ‘without opportunity, at some time, to be heard,'” the court said in the emergency order, quoting from prior opinions.
The Supreme Court had first gotten involved in the case last month, after issuing a rare middle-of-the-night order to prevent immediate deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
The court did say that the order doesn’t stop the government from removing people from the U.S. “under other lawful authorities.”
Justice Samuel Alito issued a dissenting opinion in the case, with which Justice Clarence Thomas joined, arguing that the Supreme Court was getting involved in the case too early and has no authority to issue relief.
