Why a Judge Blocked Trump’s Use of Alien Enemies Act: QuickTake

When President Donald Trump in March ordered the immediate deportation of potentially thousands of alleged Venezuelan gang members to an El Salvador mega-prison, he did so by invoking a controversial 227-year-old US law intended for use in times of war.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 allows the president to detain or deport almost all citizens of an enemy nation without any legal due process. Asserting the law in peacetime, as Trump did, is an unprecedented move that is pushing the boundaries of the president’s executive power. The US Supreme Court is likely to have the final say on the ...