Justice Alito Voices Dissent on Supreme Court’s ‘Legally Questionable’ Late Night Order

Original article here

The U.S. Supreme Court’s order early Saturday morning to block further deportations of illegal aliens by the Trump administration has drawn sharp dissent from Justice Samuel Alito who described the Court’s actions as “legally questionable.”

The order, which seeks to temporarily block the administration from deporting any more accused Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, directs that detainees held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center in northern Texas not be removed, “until further order of this court.”

Alito was joined by fellow Justice Clarence Thomas in his dissent, which stated that there was “dubious factual support” for the court to grant the request due to an emergency appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Alito specifically took the majority to task for allowing the ACLU to leapfrog lower courts to get a Supreme Court injunction, failing to allow a district court to certify a class prior to the order, issuing “legally questionable” relief without hearing from the opposing party and issuing the order “literally in the middle of the night.”

Justice Alito (and Thomas) issues his dissent in SCOTUS TdA debacle. He calls out the majority for undercutting the lower courts, not following its own precedents, not waiting for the President’s response, and assuming an improper class. All between Good Friday and Easter! pic.twitter.com/GM4H945YyJ

— Eric W. (@EWess92) April 20, 2025

Alito stated that the court’s “unprecedented” relief was “hastily and prematurely granted” and noted that it was unclear if the Supreme Court even had jurisdiction, at this point, since not all legal avenues had been utilized in the lower courts and the Supreme Court justices had not yet heard the government’s side.

Alito said, “The only papers before this Court were those submitted by the applicants. The Court had not ordered or received a response by the Government regarding either the applicants’ factual allegations or any of the legal issues presented by the application. And the Court did not have the benefit of a Government response filed in any of the lower courts either.”

The late night order says that deportations can only proceed after those about to be removed have been given a chance to argue their case in court and given “reasonable time” to contest their deportation.

Justice Alito also took issue with the legal filings which alleged that the applicants were in “imminent danger of removal” while providing “little concrete support for that allegation.”

Alito wrote:

 I refused to join the Court’s order because we had no good reason to think that, under the circumstances, issuing an order at midnight was necessary or appropriate. Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law.

The Trump administration has asked for the high court for clarification and to refine its order to allow deportations under the Alien Enemies Act for illegal migrants who have not challenged their removal.