Speaking during an interview on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” with host Bill Hemmer, legal expert Jonathan Turley gave the Trump Administration some very welcome and important legal news, explaining that the president likely has quite the upper hand over Judge Boasberg in the fight over whether he has the authority to deport members of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Agua.
As background, Judge Boasberg ruled that President Donald Trump didn’t have the authority to invoke the John Adams presidency-era Alien Enemies Act and deport gangsters in groups like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua despite the fact that SCOTUS ruled in 1948 that the president has the exclusive authority to determine when the aforementioned act can be invoked and how it can be used. Such is about what Turley spoke during his Thursday, March 27 interview with Hemmer.
In his comments on the matter, Turley explained that, while there are “good faith arguments” each side could make, the Trump Administration has strong arguments. He said, “There are certainly strong arguments for the administration to make here. I think that we have to be honest that there are good faith arguments on both sides.”
Turley did note, however, that though President Trump has “strong arguments” to make in favor of his use of the Alien Enemies Act, it is still a controversial law about which “legitimate questions” abound, He said, “This is a controversial law being used in a new way and there are legitimate questions as to the meaning of some of these terms.”
Further, Turley noted that the Supreme Court needs to examine to what degree the matter is reviewable by lower court judges, something that is an increasing problem for the Trump Administration as low-ranking judges issue national injunctions that block the administration’s attempts at policy enforcement. Turley said, “How much of it is actually reviewable? That’s going to be resolved by the Supreme Court, not by lower court judges.”
Continuing, Turley explained that he thinks the legal system will be able to work through the current problems, though they’re contentious. He said, on that point, “And people need to trust our system here. We have the greatest legal system on Earth. It will work through these problems, and I think it’s going to work through them.”
Turley went on to note the immense problem of lower court judges issuing national injunctions, saying, “It’s like having a car where every passenger is grabbing the emergency brake. It’s pretty hard to drive that car. And what you have here are judges that are imposing national injunctions, which the Supreme Court—including liberals like Justice Kagan—have objected to. She said, ‘This is madness.’”
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Returning to the matter of the case at hand, Turley noted that Trump is likely to win its fight with Judge Boasberg, along with related matters. He said, “I think the Trump administration is likely to win. I also think the Trump administration is likely to prevail in most of these cases. I think that federal judges have overextended themselves. I think they have intruded into areas of Article II or presidential authority.”
And, on the note of how the Supreme Court could restrain lower court judges, Turley noted, “The Supreme Court has previously said that there are due process rights that adhere to even non-citizens within the country. The question is: how much of a hearing? What do you need to have in order to deport individuals? The administration would like to use this law to sort of circumvent—or short-circuit—at least that process. That’s a novel use of the law.”
Watch him here: