Laura Barron-Lopez:
So, this three-judge panel includes judges appointed by President George W. Bush, Barack Obama, as well as Donald Trump.
And there was one big point of agreement among two of the judges that spoke the most during the arguments. I’m talking about Judge Justin Walker, who is an appointee of President Trump, and an Obama appointee, Patricia Millett.
And they were both skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments that essentially the president’s actions are beyond judicial review. So they both said they believe that the judiciary can review this.
Now, Judge Justin Walker focused his questions on whether or not D.C. was the right venue, saying maybe this lawsuit should be brought somewhere else. Now, Judge Patricia Millett focused her questioning on due process. And she basically said that there was no record that the people that were deported under the Alien Enemies were necessarily Tren de Aragua, or if they were maybe victims of Tren de Aragua.
And, specifically, Judge Millett said that there were planeloads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify these people who were deported, that Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act than has happened here, referring to due process and hearing boards that were held the last time the Alien Enemies Act was invoked during World War II.
The final big moment during the hearing, Amna, was that the Justice Department lawyer said that, if the appeals court ruled in their favor, the government would immediately resume mass deportations under Alien Enemies without giving notice or without due process.
