The U.S. Supreme Court's unsigned order in the Venezuelan deportation case Trump v. J.G.G. was a partial win for President Donald Trump because it lifted the temporary restraining order that a lower court had placed on Trump's deportations. However, the Court's order was also a clear loss for Trump because all nine justices agreed that all deportees under the Alien Enemies Act must be afforded due process, including "notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal." That unanimous holding by the Supreme Court was a clear rejection of the Trump administration's most expansive claims of executive power.
Trump v. J.G.G. is also notable for what it did not say. First, the Court did not say whether or not Trump unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act in the first place in order to deport aliens who are alleged to be members of the street gang Tren de Aragua.
There is excellent reason to think that Trump did act unlawfully. According to the text of the Alien Enemies Act, it may only be invoked "whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government." Yet there is no "declared war" with Venezuela and there is no "invasion or predatory incursion" by any "foreign state or government." The gang is not a foreign state and the gang's alleged crimes do not qualify as acts of war by a foreign state. There is zero textual support for Trump's actions.
