Sneak Preview: The Supreme Court Just Gave The Trump Administration Everything It Wanted—Almost

Summary

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Summary: Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick

Episode: Sneak Preview: The Supreme Court Just Gave The Trump Administration Everything It Wanted—Almost

Date: April 8, 2025

Host: Dahlia Lithwick

Guest: Mark Joseph Stern (Slate Senior Writer)

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Main Theme & Purpose

This urgent episode addresses two recent Supreme Court decisions concerning the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants to a “black site” prison in El Salvador. Dahlia Lithwick and guest Mark Joseph Stern break down a significant 5–4 Supreme Court order, handed down without a signed opinion, which allowed the administration to continue deportations and effectively gutted broader legal challenges against the program. The discussion underscores the Supreme Court’s role in shaping immigration and due process rights, and how procedural technicalities are blocking broad constitutional claims.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background: The Supreme Court Steps In

• A "tsunami of cases" involving the Alien Enemies Act and the use of the SECOT megaprison in El Salvador has reached the Supreme Court.
• On March 15, the administration began forcibly transferring hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.
• The episode follows a late-night per curiam (unsigned) Supreme Court order issued Monday, which sided with the administration.

2. Two Intertwined Cases (01:33)

• Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case: Previously discussed with his lawyer, touches on individual rights.
• The Boasberg Class Action: Central focus of this episode; a broader constitutional challenge representing all affected migrants.

3. Supreme Court’s Monday Decision (02:15)

• The Supreme Court lifted a restraining order issued by Judge James Boasberg that blocked further deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

• The Boasberg order had protected a class of migrants on constitutional and administrative grounds.

• The Supreme Court dissolved the class action, instructing migrants instead to file individual habeas petitions in the districts of their detention—predominantly South Texas, a jurisdiction with many Trump-appointed, conservative judges.

• This is procedurally crucial: broad claims under due process and the Administrative Procedures Act are replaced by narrow, individual lawsuits—a much higher bar for the migrants.

  “The government appealed and won at the Supreme Court, which said, nope…We are essentially dissolving the class action in effect, and we are ordering all of these plaintiffs to instead file much narrower habeas petitions.”
  —Mark Joseph Stern (02:32)

4. The Limits and Consequences of Habeas Corpus (03:43)

• Litigants now must bring narrow, technical claims—arguing only for the legality of their own detention, not the larger scheme.
• The unusual posture: traditionally, habeas corpus is about release. Here, migrants want to remain confined in the U.S. rather than deported to El Salvador.

  “It doesn't make a ton of sense because these individuals are not actually asking to be released…They are just asking not to get sent to El Salvador and to be confined in the United States instead.”
  —Mark Joseph Stern (03:55)

5. Practical Barriers for Migrants (04:52)

• Migrants are not likely to have legal representation, translators, or resources to file individual claims.

  “The very notion that each and every one of these people has access to…legal representation in a habeas case is in and of itself kind of bonkers.”
  —Dahlia Lithwick (04:52)

• The Supreme Court’s decision thus makes it almost impossible for most affected migrants to pursue relief, as only well-resourced individuals can navigate this system.

  “They're going to be stuck trying to find lawyers, trying to find translators, racing to the courthouse to file these petitions and then dealing with a government…that has at every turn said, we want to deport these people as fast as possible.”
  —Mark Joseph Stern (05:41)

6. The Takeaway: Undercutting Broad Constitutional Claims

• The Boasberg class action had allowed collective challenge to what the plaintiffs argued was a fundamentally illegal government scheme.
• The Supreme Court’s procedural ruling forecloses that option, limiting relief to piecemeal, individualized challenges with little realistic prospect of success.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the breadth of harm and the injustice of procedural hurdles:

  “The entire point of this class action was…to raise these very broad claims on the merits, saying that this invocation of the Alien Enemies act is unlawful, this denial of due process is just fundamentally illegal...”
  —Mark Joseph Stern (05:27)

• On the practical impossibility of relief for the migrants:

  “Very few of these detainees have a lawyer on speed dial, can afford a lawyer, have family members who can say, hey, here's your habeas lawyer...”
  —Dahlia Lithwick (04:52)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:09 – Dahlia Lithwick introduces the context and urgency of the episode.
• 01:33 – Differentiates between the two major cases involved.
• 02:15 – Mark Joseph Stern details the Supreme Court’s action and its implications.
• 03:43 – The panel discusses why the remedy of habeas corpus is ill-suited to this situation.
• 04:52–06:21 – Explores the tragic impossibility for most migrants to seek redress and the effective end of the broad constitutional lawsuit.

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Tone & Language

• The conversation is urgent, deeply critical of the Supreme Court’s procedural decision, and empathetic toward the plight of the migrants.
• Quotes reflect a frank and colloquial style—e.g., “kind of bonkers,” “racing to the courthouse,” and “nope, sorry…”

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Conclusion

This episode provides a concise-yet-sweeping critique of the Supreme Court’s intervention in Trump administration immigration policy, highlighting how technical decisions on legal process can erase broad constitutional arguments and hinder real justice for vulnerable populations. Listeners are left with a sense of alarm about both the direction of the Court and the rapidly closing avenues of relief for those affected.

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Transcript

[A]

Hi, I'm Dahlia Lithwick. This is Amicus Late's podcast about the courts, the law, and the US Supreme Court. We are releasing this extra episode of Amicus on Tuesday afternoon because the tsunami of cases now hitting the Supreme Court on this question of the Alien Enemies act. And a black site in El Salvador seems to be coming to a head at the high court this week, culminating in another unsigned per curiam order that came down Monday evening in a case we've been monitoring since its inception on March 15, when the administration tossed several hundred Venezuelan migrants onto planes and sent them to the SECOT megaprison in El Salvador under exceedingly heavy, dubious legal authority. On Monday night, the supreme court, by a 5 to 4 margin, said, bygones, we're gonna let the government go ahead, keep doing what they're doing, because those renditioned prisoners, none of whom is an enemy alien in a declared war against the United States, filed suit the wrong way in the wrong court. Oh, well, mistakes were made. Joining us to discuss what I think is a really big deal that is getting lost in financial news is Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Joseph Stern, who stayed up really late Monday night writing about this. Hi, Mark.

[B]

Hi, Dahlia.

[A]

So listen, there's two distinct cases that are getting a lot of attention. They have overlapping issues, but they are two very different cases. One is the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. We discussed that case with his lawyer on this weekend's show. The other is this class action suit that has been in front of Judge James Boasberg in a D.C. courtroom. I think you and I have been covering this almost since it was filed. And the Supreme Court took action in both cases on Monday. A tiny step in one case, a huge step in the other. So I wonder, can we start with that Boasberg case? What did the court do on Monday evening?

[B]

So the court lifted the temporary restraining order that Judge Boasberg had issued barring the Trump administration from continuing to deport Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act. Judge Boasberg had certified this class action on behalf of these individuals, had issued this restraining order, saying that the program was likely illegal. The government appealed and won at the Supreme Court, which said, nope, we are setting aside the restraining order. We are essentially dissolving the class action in effect, and we are ordering all of these plaintiffs to instead file much narrower habeas petitions. Why does that matter? The plaintiffs had raised these really broad claims in Judge Boasberg's court under the Fifth Amendment's due process clause. And The Administrative Procedure act, arguing that this entire scheme was unlawful. Um, but now they will have to file these individual petitions that are technically lawsuits against the warden or custodian of the prison where they're being held, arguing that they are being held unlawfully. That is what a petition for habeas corpus is. And it's just a much narrower, more inefficient way to bring a challenge here. And also, we can get into this. It doesn't make a ton of sense because these individuals are not actually asking to be released from their detention centers in Texas, which is what a traditional habeas suit would. Would look like. They are just asking not to get sent to El Salvador and to be confined in the United States instead of a foreign country. And yet the Supreme Court said, nope, sorry, this all has to go under habeas corpus. In the districts of their confinement, which are those individuals still being held in the United States who have not yet been sent to El Salvador is South Texas. That is, of course, a district filled with Trump appointed super conservative judges. And it is a district that falls within the hard right 5th U.S. circuit Court of Appeals. So all of these plaintiffs, the named plaintiffs, the entire class of migrants affected here, they have effectively been thrown out of Judge Boasberg's federal courtroom in D.C. and they have been told to try their luck elsewhere, probably one by one, not through a class action, not through a very broad suit under due process or the Administrative Procedure act, but instead as a habeas petition in Texas district court.

[A]

Is it worth stopping for a minute to just note that very few of these detainees have a lawyer on speed dial, can afford a lawyer, have family members who can say, hey, here's your habeas lawyer. In other words, instead of being swept up in a class where they all suffer similar harms and there's a similar constitutional injury, the very notion that each and every one of these people has access to and the ability to seek legal representation in a habeas case is in and of itself kind of bonkers.

[B]

Mark, it's ridiculous. The entire point of this class action was, as you said, to sweep up everyone and to raise these very broad claims on the merits, saying that this invocation of the Alien Enemies act is unlawful, this denial of due process is just fundamentally illegal, and that the entire government scheme in effect here has to be restrained. That was the magic of Judge Boasberg's restraining order. And so with it set aside, and with all these plaintiffs being told, sorry, go to Texas, they're going to be stuck trying to find lawyers trying to find translators racing to the courthouse to file these petitions and then dealing with a government that has at every turn said, we want to deport these people as fast as possible and shown no interest or respect in their own rights to protest their rendition to El Salvador.

[A]

Slate plus members can access the full interview right now. You can subscribe to Slate plus directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or you can visit slate.com amicusplus to get access wherever you listen. We'll be back with your regularly scheduled Amicus episode on Saturday morning. Until then, take good care there.