DOJ pleads with conservative appeals court to rule that judges can't question Trump's 'factfinding'

Source: Law & Crime

Sep 22nd, 2025, 3:18 pm


The DOJ is asking the full 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and its conservative majority to find that two judges wrongly "failed" to defer to President Donald Trump on his determinations that alleged Venezuelan gang members had invaded the U.S. and should be swiftly removed from the country through his Alien Enemies Act (AEA) declaration.

In a 21-page filing Monday seeking a rehearing en banc, the DOJ asserted that a three-judge panel, except for the dissent, erroneously "invalidated" Trump's proclamation in March which designated Tren de Aragua (TdA) as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" numbering "thousands of members" who were "conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States" and with the blessing of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

According to the government, which repeatedly cited the dissent, the 2-1 majority "failed to defer" to Trump, "misinterpreted the AEA's text and history to unduly cabin its reach," and encroached on the president's authority under Article II of the Constitution. "The full Court should rehear this case to make clear that the AEA supports the President's Proclamation, and reaffirm that the government's policy for notifying enemy aliens of their removal under the AEA comports with due process," the DOJ said.

Earlier in September, the panel led by U.S. Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick's majority concluded that Trump's invocation of the 1798 wartime law failed for the reasons that there was "no invasion or predatory incursion" afoot under the meaning of the statute, that the U.S. is neither at war with TdA nor Venezuela, and that the president's admittedly "broad discretion" was reviewable by the courts.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-demands-conservative-appeals-court-find-that-judges-wrongly-failed-to-defer-to-him-on-alien-enemies-act/