Trump loses appeal for Alien Enemies Act invocation

As we are all quite aware, Donald Trump is seeing resistance to the majority of his executive orders.

In one of those battles, Trump was hoping the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act would help his case, but he just found out he lost that battle too.

Alien Enemies Act

The Alien Enemies Act is a late 18th-century wartime powers act that would have enabled Trump to deport certain illegals from this country without having to jump through hoops.

Trump’s order, in part, stated, “Tren de Aragua (TdA) is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.

“TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking.

“TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States.”

Denied

This was always going to be a challenge for Trump, especially because the case had been assigned to Judge Boasberg, a Democrat-appointed judge, most of whom have made up their minds long before any evidence or arguments were presented.

This case went as expected, with Boasberg denying Trump’s ability to invoke this act.

Boasberg blasted the administration for ignoring his initial order to turn the planes around, then called the invocation of this act “awfully frightening.” Now, I don’t quite understand that, considering how notorious and violent TdA has proven to be.

Boasberg went on to say “that anybody is invading the United States,” disqualifying the use of the Act.

Appeal Denied

When the case went before the appellate court, Trump’s order was received in much the same fashion. The three-judge panel featured another Democrat-appointed judge, who more or less took over the arguments, a Reagan-appointed judge who was elevated by Bush, and a Trump-appointed judge.

The panel ruled 2-1 against Trump, with only Trump’s judge siding with the president. Judge Millett, the Democrat judge made virtually the same argument made by Boasberg in the lower courts, but Judge Henderson, who Bush elevated to the appellate court, had a bit of a different take while ruling against the administration.

Henderson wrote, "At this early stage, the government has yet to show a likelihood of success on the merits. The equities favor the plaintiffs. And the district court entered the TROs for a quintessentially valid purpose: to protect its remedial authority long enough to consider the parties’ arguments. Accordingly, and for the foregoing reasons, the request to stay the district court’s TROs should be denied."

As far as this administration is concerned, Judge Boasberg is the new Judge Engoron, as they have been attacking Boasberg non-stop since the first ruling was handed down to block the deportations. At some point, this will go before the Supreme Court, and while I know how the three liberal justices will rule, as well as how Alito and Thomas will rule, I am really curious about how the rest of them will interpret this with Trump having declared TdA a terrorist organization. It could truly go either way.