“No court, or judge, or jury ever heard their case,” Dan McFadden, managing attorney at ACLU of Massachusetts, observed separately, referring to a picture of deportees in El Salvador. (The ACLU is among the groups fighting Trump’s Alien Enemies Act order.) “There was no appeal. Just a plane to a forced labor prison in El Salvador for whoever Trump said should go.”
Even in the run-up to Monday’s hearing, the federal government was defiant, urging Boasberg to cancel the hearing “and de-escalate the grave incursions on Executive Branch authority that have already arisen.” (The judge declined.) The administration also asked an appellate court to reassign the case to another district court judge.
In his second term, Trump is pursuing an unprecedented power grab, asserting near-unlimited authority to fire federal workers, eliminate agencies created by Congress, and cut off (and even claw back) money already designated for spending under law. In turn, courts have checked the administration, ordering them to undo many efforts.
