At the end of the term, there were so many blockbusters that two significant immigration decisions largely flew under the radar. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinions in Mullin v. Doe and Mullin v. Al Otro Lado. While I think both cases got the law right, I was troubled by some of the rhetoric that Alito used in Doe. My new essay in Civitas Outlook is titled, "SCOTUS's Immigration Rulings Chastise Trump on Morality."
Here is the introduction:
Last term, the Supreme Court ruled that the judiciary could not review the Secretary of Homeland Security's "determination" to suspend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian aliens. Mullin v. Doe was split by a right-left 6-3 vote. I think the majority had the better reading of the statute and the Constitution. Yet the Court didn't limit itself to the legal issues presented. Rather, Justice Alito's majority opinion regrettably chastised President Trump's rhetoric and his administration's immigration policies. Indeed, Justice Alito expressed something like remorse for ruling against the immigrants, perhaps in response to the dissent's fear-mongering claims. The Court reached the right result but was wrong to moralize to the President about how to conduct foreign affairs. This straightforward case should have been resolved on legal grounds without the need to virtue signal about immigration.
