A judge appointed by President Biden appeared to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Monday by blocking deportation orders for eight migrants slated for expedited removal, raising concerns about a potential break from established legal precedent.
The ruling may conflict with a Supreme Court decision issued just hours earlier, which cleared the way for the Trump administration to proceed with deporting the eight individuals to third-party countries. Officials had previously expressed frustration that some migrants could not be returned to their home countries because those governments refused to accept them.
The high court’s decision lifted a prior injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, which had temporarily allowed migrants in custody to challenge their deportation to third countries—such as Sudan—on the grounds of imminent danger.
However, Murphy appeared to sidestep that ruling by blocking the deportation of eight migrants currently being held at a U.S. naval base in Djibouti from being sent to South Sudan. In his opinion, the judge references Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion instead of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion.
Sotomayor had written her belief that Murphy’s “remedial orders are not properly before this Court because the Government has not appealed them, nor sought a stay pending a forthcoming appeal,” according to the Daily Caller.
“All eight individuals—none of whom have final removal orders to South Sudan—are being deprived of basic procedural rights and access to protection that Congress and the Constitution require,” lawyers for the eight illegal immigrants wrote to Murphy on Monday. “Absent injunctive relief, these class members face imminent risk of deportation to a volatile country where they likely will face indefinite detention and other forms of torture.”
On Tuesday, lawyers for the Trump administration called Murphy’s abrupt decision “unprecedented defiance” of the Supreme Court. “The district court’s ruling of last night is a lawless act of defiance that, once again, disrupts sensitive diplomatic relations and slams the brakes on the Executive’s lawful efforts to effectuate third-country removals,” Solicitor General John Sauer told the justices.
“For over two months now, the Executive has labored under an injunction that this Court yesterday deemed unenforceable,” Sauer continued. “This Court should immediately make clear that the district court’s enforcement order has no effect, and put a swift end to the ongoing irreparable harm to the Executive Branch and its agents, who remain under baseless threat of contempt as they are forced to house dangerous criminal aliens at a military base in the Horn of Africa that now lies on the borders of a regional conflict.”
On Fox News Monday evening, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller warned viewers to “expect fireworks” in Boston on Tuesday, where Murphy presides. “Sean, in a little bit of breaking news is that the District Court Judge in Boston has said he’s gonna defy the Supreme Court’s ruling, so expect fireworks tomorrow when we hold this judge accountable for refusing to obey the Supreme Court,” he said.
