Judge in Texas rules Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act for deportations is unlawful - ABC News

[TexasTowelie]

A Trump-appointed federal judge has permanently blocked the Trump administration from detaining, transferring or removing Venezuelans targeted for deportation under the Alien Enemies Act in the Southern District of Texas -- ruling that the administration's invocation of the AEA "exceeds the scope" of the law.
Transcript

[sheshe2]

1. In Texas and a trump appointed judge to boot!!!

Wow! That is huge.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Deadline: Legal Blog---Trump-appointed judge calls Trump's Alien Enemies Act invocation 'unlawful'

The Texas judge’s ruling is significant because it dealt head-on with the merits of the wartime law. It’s not the last word on the issue.
https://bsky.app/profile/photoframd.bsky.social/post/3lo5gx4mso22b

Trump-appointed judge calls Trump’s Alien Enemies Act invocation ‘unlawful’. The Texas judge’s ruling is significant because it dealt head-on with the merits of the wartime law.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/alien-enemies-act-invocation-unlawful-rcna204232

President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act has faced intense preliminary litigation in courts around the country, leading to rulings such as the Supreme Court’s insistence that people potentially subject to the act must receive due process. But a new and significant ruling from a Trump-appointed judge on Thursday gets to the heart of the matter, deeming the president’s invocation itself “unlawful.”

The 1798 act was previously used only during declared wars. The text of the act says it’s for “[w]henever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government.”.....

The Trump appointee reviewed the historical record from the time of the act’s passage and found that the terms “invasion” or “predatory incursion” are meant to refer to “an organized, armed force entering the United States to engage in conduct destructive of property and human life in a specific geographical area.” Applying that background to Trump’s proclamation, the judge said TdA’s activities as described in the proclamation don’t qualify under the act.

While this is just one ruling from one (Trump-appointed) judge in one district, it shows the difficulty the administration could face in ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court on the merits of the issue. Other trial and appellate court judges around the country could also favorably cite Rodriguez’s ruling if they agree with it, though they wouldn’t be bound by it. Trial judges are bound by appellate rulings in their circuits, and all judges are bound by the Supreme Court. Rodriguez sits in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the most conservative circuit, which would typically be the next step on the appellate chain if the government chooses to challenge the ruling.

In any event, Rodriguez’s decision doesn’t prevent the administration from using normal immigration authorities outside the rarely used act to carry out deportations.

The new ruling also underscores the illegality of the administration having already summarily removed people to El Salvador under the act and deposited them into a notorious prison there. Lawyers are also pressing to get them returned to the United States. And the ruling comes as the administration fights against returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who was also illegally deported to that country (albeit not under the Alien Enemies invocation).

The invocation of the Alien Enemies Act is not supported by the law and I am shocked that it has taken this long for a court to rule on this act. I saw that trump is appealing directly to SCOTUS and by passing the 5th Circuit. This will be fun to watch.

[ScoutHikerDad]

3. They Will Ignore It

What then?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Judge gives Trump lesson in US history as he hammers admin for illegal act

I never understood how a DOJ attorney would be stupid enough to sign a pleading claiming that the Alien Enemies Act applied. Any attorney who signed such a pleading need to be disbarred or sanctioned. Only an idiot would put his name on such a pleading or filing.
https://bsky.app/profile/nipperdawg.bsky.social/post/3lojjvpcwc22y

Link to tweet

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-alien-enemies-act-44

A federal judge in New York found President Donald Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act was unlawful, Just Security legal analyst Adam Klasfeld reported Tuesday.

According to the ruling, the judge said that there's no “war,” “invasion” or “predatory incursion" — all have which Trump has suggested justify his use of the act to deport people without due process.

Trump alleged that he must use the AEA because there was "the greatest invasion in history" by immigrants into the U.S. In particular. Trump alleged that there was an influx of international gang members.

In a brutal decision, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein began by giving Trump's represenatives a history lesson.

"This nation was founded on the 'self-evident' truths 'that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, [and] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,'" he wrote.

"Our Constitution embodies these truths, in a limited government of enumerated powers, in its system of checks and balances separating the executive, legislative and judicial branches, and in its guarantee that neither citizen nor alien be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

He continued: "Yet, in March 2025, more than 200 aliens were removed from this country to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (“CECOT'), with faint hope of process or return. The sweep for removal is ongoing, extending to the litigants in this case and others, thwarted only by order of this and other federal courts."

At the end of April, a federal judge in Colorado made "preliminary findings that the AEA didn't apply, but the final ruling on that is pending," Klasfeld recalled in a post on Bluesky.