The ancient writ of habeas corpus, which allows one to petition unlawful imprisonment to a judge, has had a banner year because of the Trump administration's mass deportation program.
The Supreme Court ruled last April that challenges to unlawful imprisonment and deportation must be brought as individual habeas corpus petitions, rather than lawsuits broadly attacking the government's policies. That ruling, combined with the Trump administration's policy of holding arrestees in indefinite detention without bond hearings, led detainees to flood federal court dockets with habeas petitions. A ProPublica analysis published in February found that more than 18,000 petitions were filed in the first 13 months of President Donald Trump's second term—more than the last three administrations combined.
