The confusion over #Trump’s signature prompted some speculation that perhaps the document was signed using an #autopen, a machine that uses real ink to duplicate a human signature. The #DOJ has said the autopen is a legal way to sign official presidential documents, but Trump has ridiculed the practice as inauthentic [& Trump proclaimed Biden’s pardons were invalid for its use].

More from Axios:

#ColumbiaUniversity agreed to some of the #Trump admin's demands after some $400 million in federal grants & contracts were pulled from the university over allegations of antisemitism, per a university memo shared Friday.

#law #Constitution #CivilRights #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #FreedomOfAssembly #ThoughtPolice #ViewPointDiscrimination #dissent #NaziState #MafiaState
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/columbia-trump-federal-funding-protests

#DOJ is back up briefly for a hypothetical presented by Boasberg about whether the #AlienEnemiesAct could apply to Chinese fishermen under their interpretation of the #AEA. They agreed it could.

Court is adjourned for the day.

#law #Constitution #immigration #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg says he is also concerned that those targeted were not working for foreign governments, but adds that the question of his ability to review the proclamation itself is unclear.

"There's still a lot of language in #SCOTUS cases that gives me pause"

#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg interjects to say that a big question here is about TdA membership, determining who is covered by the #AEA.

Boasberg to #ACLU: I agree that the policy implications of this are incredibly troubling, problematic, concerning....it's an unprecedented & expanded use of the Act

#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#ACLU: "It can't just be you're put on a plane in 2hrs"

ACLU says that unless there's a review process, "anyone could be taken off the street." He adds that the plaintiffs see another question: whether the proclamation itself is reviewable by the courts; he says it is.

ACLU: "This is a very dangerous road we're going down where the #AlienEnemiesAct can be invoked against a gang" [not a foreign nation or government]

#law #Constitution #immigration #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#DOJ argues that, hypothetically, people subject to #AlienEnemiesAc could contest that via a habeas claim. But says that the current suit (a class action) shouldn't be allowed (not brought by individual)

#Boasberg asks about #torture claims: Why can't the plaintiffs bring that related to the #AEA removals?

DOJ says that such a claim needs to be brought as part of a #HabeasCorpus petition.

[again, not easy to do from #CECOT)

#law #Constitution #immigration #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg reminds the #DOJ that #Congress created a court for exactly this -- the Alien Terrorist Removal Court. It has never been used.

FYI: Boasberg was Chief Judge of The Alien Terrorist Removal Court 2020–2025 →

https://www.fjc.gov/history/courts/alien-terrorist-removal-court-judges

Boasberg asks about #DueProcess rights to aliens within the #US

DOJ argues their rights are "quite limited"

#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg: let's talk about whether #HabeasCorpus is the sole avenue of review

[hopefully we will soon hear about #judiciary #power & the #Trump admin’s defiance of the courts]

#DOJ keeps trying to argue that the challenge in this case would strip the govt, somehow, of its authority to detain people.

[not if they do it without breaking the law]

Boasberg, incredulous: this is about removal, isnt it? [not detention]

#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary

#DOJ returns to the idea that individual people can raise challenges under #HabeasCorpus.

[not exactly an option for people who are already in an El Salvadorian terrorist detention center!]

#Boasberg compares this to the old #Guantanamo cases, in which the courts were able to review whether a detainee was a member of Al Qaeda even if "they had never even set foot in the United States"

#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg begins questioning #DOJ on #DueProcess infringements:

“What happens if govt removes someone who is not a member of Tren de Aragua?”

DOJ cites a case from 1946.

Boasberg asks what limits the DOJ thinks there are for determining who is subject to the #AlienEnemiesAct proclamation.

DOJ allows for very limited #HabeasCorpus.

#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg: Within only a couple of hours planes cleared US airspace, all of these people were put on these flights & collected & the flights had taken off.

"ICE had to have had advance notice of this proclamation because it's impossible that this could have happened in a few hours"

#DOJ says that seems like "a reasonable inference”

[I’ll boost a post I made 3 days ago with a graphic of the timeline]
#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg: "Why was this proclamation essentially signed in the dark? ...And then have people rushed onto planes? TO me, the only reason to do that is to” rush people out of the country before a suit is filed.

#DOJ: "I don't have operational details"
[FFS that’s what this & the last several hearings & orders have been about! argh!!!]

#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg: “It is also clear that individuals must have a chance to show that they are members of a class that #AEA" affects.

#DOJ finally concedes that the government has legal avenues for deporting people subject to the #AlienEnemiesAct & that the court has allowed the #Trump admin to do so.

[you know, the way it is supposed to be done]

[TYVM]

#law #Constitution #immigration #DueProcess #Judiciary #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg: "I often tell my clerks before they go out into the world & practice law that the most valuable" attributes they have are "their reputation & their credibility.”
[burn]

Boasberg moves on to the underlying case. He says that nobody contests the President's ability to oversee #ForeignAffairs.

[of course this was not a foreign affair but domestic #immigration policy operation]

#law #Constitution #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

#Boasberg asks #DOJ about his order to return the detainees to the US:

“You understood that?”

DOJ’s atty says that what he told the trump admin – is covered by #AttorneyClientPrivilege.

Judge Boasberg says that at the start of Sat’s hearing, the DOJ told him that it had "no detail" on the removal flights.

"No one told you anything about those flights?" Boasberg asked.

[btw, this was publicly available information via flight tracker]

#law #Constitution #immigration #DueProcess #Judiciary

Judge #Boasberg’s hearing has started on #DOJ’s motion to vacate his #TRO barring the #Trump admin from carrying out any further #AlienEnemiesAct #deportations.

Boasberg starts off, telling DOJ that they have been using "disrespectful, intemperate language" that he's "never seen from the United States"

"Without having any edge, I made it very clear what you had to do. Did you not understand my statement from that hearing?" Boasberg asks

#law #Constitution #immigration #DueProcess #Judiciary

For more on #MomodouTaal’s case →

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/3/21/headlines/international_student_activist_momodou_taal_sues_to_block_trump_orders_targeting_protesters