Last week, the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., agreed to halt the Trump administration’s deportation of members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang (TdA). While only a temporary order, the 2–1 decision intrudes into the province of the elected branches of government over war and national security. A federal court has never before overruled the decision of a president or Congress that the United States has suffered an attack or invasion. The Department of Justice has petitioned the Supreme Court for review, which the Court should grant. The Court should prevent trial judges from interfering with the elected branches’ authority over war and national security.
To be sure, the Trump administration has confronted the federal courts by making an unprecedented use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. The act authorizes the president to detain and expel aliens of “a hostile nation or government” with which the United States is in a “declared war” or by which it has suffered an “invasion or predatory incursion.” The United States had used the act only during the declared War of 1812 and World Wars I and II.
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