The U.S. Supreme Court was asked by President Donald Trump on Friday to overturn an order that prevented his administration from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a means to deport Venezuelan migrants into a prison in El Salvador.
The petition, filed in Trump’s official capacity as President and his administration, requests “an immediate administrative stay”.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, split on Thursday, refused to lift an order issued by the panel’s Chief Judge, James Boasberg. The March 15 order had temporarily prohibited deportations under a wartime law from the 18th century.
For the first time since World War II, the administration deported hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members by declaring the Tren de Aragua group as an invasion force.
Boasberg ordered that planeloads of immigrants be returned to the United States. This did not occur.
The order was based on a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in Texas on behalf of five Venezuelans who were not citizens and were being detained.
Bloomberg Law reports that the use of the Alien Enemies Act by Trump’s administration allows it to deport alleged members of gangs without holding hearings. The standoff between government officials and federal judges is part of an ongoing test of the judiciary’s ability to enforce limits to the president’s power.
If the Supreme Court grants Trump’s request, this will allow the administration to send out people without first having a judge hear the case to determine whether they are members of gangs.
In filing the petition, Acting Solicitor-General Sarah Harris said that the case “cries for the court’s intervening.”
The filing does not, however, include allegations that the administration disobeyed Boasberg’s March 15, 2015, order to turn around the planes transporting the immigrants and return them to the United States.
The administration argues against giving information about the flights to Boasberg, claiming state secrets could be compromised.
