decided April 7, 2025
The Alien Enemies Act, now codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 21-24, allows the President of the United States to unilaterally deport citizens of a foreign country who are both in the United States, and who are engaged in some fashion in a declared or undeclared war against the United States, all upon the President’s public announcement that the foreign country is conducting an “invasion” of the United States. 50 U.S.C. §21. Once the President’s proclamation of an “invasion” is made, all he has to do to carry out a deportation of a targeted foreign national is to issue a “warrant” against that individual, and then have the nearest U.S. Marshal, or that Marshal’s deputies or agents, execute it. 50 U.S.C. §24. In this case, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the targets of a Presidential deportation under the Alien Enemies Act are entitled, as a matter of Fifth Amendment Constitutional Law, to advance notice of their anticipated deportation, and, upon their request, to a hearing before the nearest federal court where they can contest the grounds for that anticipated deportation. The Court explained that those procedural rights of literally everyone in the United States are intrinsic to the “Due Process of Law” Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The Court flatly and unanimously rejected earlier claims by President Trump that the courts had no power to stand in his way under the Alien Enemies Act.
Comment: Hallelujah!
Added Comment: The much reported 5-4 vote split of the Justices in this case was over the technical question of the appropriate “venue” for a court hearing when requested by a targeted deportee. On that issue, Justices Kagen, Sotomayor, Jackson, and Barrett dissented from the Court’s ruling that the hearing had to be held in the judicial district where the potential deportee was incarcerated when served.
Added Comment: The service of a Constitutionally consistent “warrant” upon the targeted deportee by the local U.S. Marshal or his deputies, as required by Section 24 of the Act, should be regarded as an essential part of the required “Due Process of Law” under the Fifth Amendment. See U.S. Constitution, Amendments IV, and V.
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