The ruling barred the use of the act in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, which fall under the Fifth Circuit‘s purview. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department will almost certainly appeal to the wider appeals court or the Supreme Court.
Archiv: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
California hopes law from bloody era of U.S. history can rein in Trump’s use of troops
(Today)
Department of Justice has argued Posse Comitatus does not apply to the military’s current actions in Southern California — and even if it did, the soldiers deployed there haven’t violated the law. It also claimed the 9th Circuit decision endorsing Trump’s authority to call up troops rendered the Posse Comitatus issue moot.
Some experts feel California’s case is strong.
“You literally have military roaming the streets of Los Angeles with civilian law enforcement,” said Shilpi Agarwal, legal director of the ACLU of Northern California, “That’s exactly what the [act] is designed to prevent.”
But Nevitt was more doubtful. Even if Breyer ultimately rules that Trump’s troops are violating the law and grants the injunction California is seeking, the 9th Circuit will almost certainly strike it down, he said.
“It’s going to be an uphill battle,” the attorney said. “And if they find a way to get to the Supreme Court, I see the Supreme Court siding with Trump as well.”
ACLU Slams Trump Administration Deployment of Active Duty Troops to Los Angeles
(June 9, 2025)
“From the get-go, the Trump administration’s deployment of troops into the streets of California, over the governor’s objection, has raised serious constitutional concerns. This latest move only increases legal and ethical jeopardy for troops, and further endangers the rights of the people of Los Angeles. Brave Angelenos who are peacefully standing up for the rights of their immigrant neighbors deserve better, just like this country does.”
Supreme Court extends block on some Alien Enemies Act deportation flights
Over the dissents of conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the emergency decision prevents authorities from removing the migrants under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a legal challenge proceeds, a win for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is suing on the migrants’ behalf.
But the justices declined the ACLU’s additional request to leapfrog the lower courts to immediately take up the issue of whether President Trump can invoke the rarely used law outside of wartime.
Supreme Court blocks Trump from restarting Alien Enemies Act deportations
“Today’s ruling effectively extends the temporary freeze that the justices put on Alien Enemies Act removals from the Northern District of Texas back on April 19,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at Georgetown Law. “Because lower courts have blocked use of the act in every other district in which the president has sought to invoke it, that means it’s effectively pausing all removals under the act until the 5th Circuit – and, presumably, the Supreme Court itself – conclusively resolves whether they’re legal and how much process is due if so.”
Van Hollen: ‚I am not defending the man, I am defending the rights of this man to due process‘
Karl asked the senator what Abrego Garcia shared during their meeting.
“He told me about the trauma he had been experiencing, both in terms of the abduction and the fact that he was originally sent to CECOT, which is this notorious prison,” Van Hollen said. “He specifically mentioned his 5-year-old boy who has autism, because that boy had been in the car with him when U.S. agents had stopped them and handcuffed him and then taken him away.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen says U.S. is in a ‚constitutional crisis‘ as Trump disregards court orders in the Abrego Garcia case
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of sending the U.S. into a constitutional crisis, saying members of the Trump administration “are very much flouting the courts as we speak.”
Asked directly on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” whether the U.S. is currently in a constitutional crisis, Van Hollen said, “Yes, we are.”
Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country.
Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing — But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!
Trump Administration Live Updates: Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act
The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration early Saturday from deporting another group of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members under the expansive powers of a rarely invoked wartime law.
“The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,” the court said in a brief, unsigned order that gave no reasoning, as is typical in emergency cases.
Supreme Court blocks, for now, new deportations under 18th century wartime law
The high court acted in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Supreme Court had said earlier in April that deportations could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest their pending removals.
ACLU Turns to Supreme Court Amid Fears of Imminent Alien Enemies Act Deportations
(April 18, 2025)
The ACLU on Friday sought emergency action from the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Venezuelan men in immigration custody at risk of swiftly being deported under President Donald Trump‘s proclamation invoking an 18th-century wartime law.
Re: Urgent Request for Access to and Information Regarding Immigrants Transferred from the United States and Detained at Guantánamo Bay
(February 7, 2025)
Dear Secretary Noem, Secretary Hegseth, and Secretary Rubio:
We write on behalf of the undersigned immigrants‘ rights and civil rights organizations to request immediate access to the noncitizens transferred from immigration detention facilities in the United States and currently detained at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Since February 4, 2025, the government has transferred nearly two dozen noncitizens to Guantánamo, without providing any information about their circumstances or the government’s legal authority for these unprecedented actions. The government has also announced that it is planning to send tens of thousands of additional immigration detainees to Guantánamo in the near future.
The Constitution, and federal and international law prohibit the government from using Guantánamo as a legal black hole. We therefore request that the government provide our organizations access to the noncitizens detained at Guantánamo so that those individuals will have access to legal counsel, and so advocates and the public can understand the conditions
under which the government is detaining them. We also request basic information that the public has a right to know regarding the noncitizens being sent to Guantánamo and the government’s plans for them.
(…)
Sincerely,
American Civil Liberties Union
Americans for Immigrant Justice
Amica Center
American Gateways
Center for Constitutional Rights
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Human Rights First
International Refugee Assistance Project
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Texas Civil Rights Project
Biden commutes most federal death row sentences to life in prison before Trump takes office
“President Biden has an opportunity to make history by addressing the racist and unjust federal death penalty system and keep an early campaign promise he made to the American people,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said this month after the ACLU and more than 130 other civil and human rights organizations sent Biden a letter urging him to commute the sentences of those on death row.
I‘m having a hard time believing that the ACLU — just out of the blue — decided to reverse its long-time civil libertarian position *against* vaccine mandates by announcing, just days before Biden imposed them, that they now favor them. Coincidences that extreme are . . . rare.
The ACLU, Prior to COVID, Denounced Mandates and Coercive Measures to Fight Pandemics
If you were surprised to see the ACLU heralding the civil liberties imperatives of „vaccine mandates” and „vaccine requirements” — whereby the government coerces adults to inject medicine into their own bodies that they do not want — the New York Times op-ed which the group promoted, written by two of its senior lawyers, was even more extreme. The article begins with this rhetorical question: “Do vaccine mandates violate civil liberties?” Noting that „some who have refused vaccination claim as much,” the ACLU lawyers say: “we disagree.” The op-ed then examines various civil liberties objections to mandates and state coercion — little things like, you know, bodily autonomy and freedom to choose — and the ACLU officials then invoke one authoritarian cliche after the next (“these rights are not absolute“) to sweep aside such civil liberties concerns:
Maine Sets Example With ‚Country‘s Strongest‘ Facial Recognition Ban
Civil liberties advocates on Wednesday cheered as Maine enacted what that state‘s ACLU chapter called „the country‘s strongest statewide facial recognition law.“
That the ACLU can’t issue a clear, definitive statement about Silicon Valley oligarchical monopolies radically expanding their control over political speech – see if you can figure out what this even means — speaks volumes not only about ACLU but how repressive this moment is:
ACLU sues FBI for information about its encryption-cracking skills
The FBI must be more transparent about its ability to break into people’s mobile devices, the American Civil Liberties Union says, and the group is suing for information about what the feds have in their toolkit.
The ACLU says the bureau should come clean about what its Electronic Device Analysis Unit (EDAU) is using “to unlock and decrypt information that is otherwise securely stored on cell phones.”
BREAKING: A federal appeals court just ruled that the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records was illegal.
2.9.2020
ACLU of Louisiana Statement on Fatal Shooting by Lafayette Police Officers
The report finds that fatal shootings by police are so routine that, even during a national pandemic, with far fewer people traveling outside of their homes, police have continued to fatally shoot people at the same rate so far in 2020 as they did in the same period from 2015 to 2019.
New ACLU report finds that police shootings have not decreased despite pandemic
“The findings of this report show that police violence in our country is not situational, but rather endemic to our country’s policing institution. Despite a once in a lifetime public health crisis that has upended societal norms and caused a decrease in physical interaction, police still manage to kill people at the same rate as before the outbreak of COVID-19,” Paige Fernandez, policing policy adviser at the ACLU, said in a release.
ACLU urges court to hold federal agents in Portland in contempt
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Oregon called on a federal court on Tuesday to hold federal agents in contempt for alleged attacks on journalists and legal observers at protests in Portland, Ore.
New Local Lawsuit Challenges ‚Violent and Unlawful‘ Attacks on Portland Protesters by Trump‘s Secret Police Force
A pair of Oregon state lawmakers joined with a local lawyer, church, and advocacy group on Tuesday to bring yet another lawsuit against federal government agencies over President Donald Trump‘s ongoing militarized crackdown on Black Lives Matter protests in Portland.
‚Secret police force‘: Feds reportedly pull Portland protesters into unmarked vehicles, stirring outrage
(17.06.2020)
Federal law enforcement officers have used unmarked vehicles to detain protesters in Portland, according to news reports and at least one protester who spoke to USA TODAY.
Videos shared online show officers driving up to people, detaining them without explanation, then driving off, Oregon Public Broadcasting first reported. The ACLU filed a lawsuit Friday evening to try and end what it called „lawlessness“ on the streets of Portland.
ACLU files lawsuit over federal agents in Portland
“DHS and DOJ are engaged in acts that are horrific and outrageous in our constitutional democratic republic,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) said. “First, they are deploying paramilitary forces with no identification indicating who they are or who they work for. Second, these agents are snatching people off the street with no underlying justification.
Black Lives Matter, protesters add DC police to lawsuit over clearing of Lafayette Square
The ACLU and other civil rights groups filed a motion adding Police Chief Peter Newsham and other officers to the suit, alleging D.C. officers joined federal law enforcement agents in forcibly clearing the square ahead of President Trump’s photo-op outside of St. John’s Church.
U.S. activists decry first known wrongful arrest blamed on face recognition
ACLU Sues Trump Over ‚Shameless, Unconstitutional, Unprovoked, and Frankly Criminal‘ Assault on Peaceful Protesters
A coalition of civil rights groups including the ACLU of the District of Columbia is suing President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and other federal officials over the brutal police assault on peaceful demonstrators near the White House Monday that cleared the way for the president‘s photo-op at St. John‘s Episcopal Church.
Civil liberties groups sue Trump, Barr for forcefully removing Lafayette Square protesters
n a federal lawsuit, the groups asserted that U.S. and military police officers’ use of horses, batons, shields and riot control agents — including pepper spray, smoke canisters and rubber or plastic projectiles — violated largely peaceful protesters’ constitutional rights of free speech and assembly 30 minutes before a citywide curfew took effect Monday.
The suit — which also names Attorney General William P. Barr as a defendant — was brought by the ACLU of the District of Columbia, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
ACLU, Black Lives Matter LA File Lawsuit Over Curfew Orders
The American Civil Liberties Union and Black Lives Matter L.A. have filed a lawsuit against local political and law enforcement leaders, calling for an end to the „draconian curfews“ imposed as largely peaceful protests continue throughout Southern California.
Federal judge: Florida can’t stop poor felons from voting
“This ruling means hundreds of thousands of Floridians will be able to rejoin the electorate and participate in upcoming elections,” said Julie Ebenstein, senior staff attorney with ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “This is a tremendous victory for voting rights.”
Coalition Letter to House Leadership Concerning Wyden-Daines Amendment to USA Freedom Reauthorization Act
Indeed, this would help address serious concerns among the public that civil liberties are at a heightened riskduring this time of crisis. This is an acute concern for the many groups that the FBI has wrongfully targeted in thepast, including activists, communities of color, and the press.With ample support for this measure secured in the Senate, the decision to seize this moment in defense ofAmericans’ civil liberties is exclusively in your hands.
Police use of drones to trace coronavirus spread sparks protest in Westport
“Do we want to live in a police state or a free society? It is crazy to see how much power the government is grabbing a hold of in such a short period of time.”