The Justice System's Activist Problem

SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts doesn't seem to realize the thin ice he's on.

What happens when a President decides he doesn’t need to listen to the courts? Or, what happens when a district judge oversteps his bounds and demands information he has no right to have?

There are now over 130 legal cases against the current administration in just the last two months. It seems like every time the president breathes, another suit is filed. Many judges across the country have issued Temporary Restraining Orders (TRO) or Preliminary Injunctions (PI) to prevent the administration from taking action on a myriad of issues. So far, only a handful of those cases have made it to the Circuit Court of Appeals, which moves slower than molasses in January. As of this writing, the only time the Supreme Court has intervened was to tell the administration that they had to listen to Judge Ali and pony up the cash for some USAID recipients.

That leads us to the current kerfuffle between the Trump administration and DC District Court Judge Boasberg (profile coming soon). This started when Trump invoked 50 USC 21 in his Executive Order, declaring Tren de Aragua as not just a terrorist organization, but also an arm of the Maduro regime sent to the US to destabilize the country. Since the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) says “or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government,” declaring them part of the Maduro regime gives the President the right to take action.

Five Venezuelan men, here illegally, filed a lawsuit early Saturday, March 15, claiming that the AEA is only supposed to be used in times of war, and that they aren’t part of any invasion. Their lawyers then requested that a TRO be used to prevent the government from deporting them off American soil, which the judge granted. They also asked the judge to turn the lawsuit into a class action that would cover ALL Venezuelans in the country illegally. By 5 pm Saturday afternoon, Judge Boasberg demanded everyone show up on Zoom for a hearing.