In a decision released on Wednesday, a federal judge ordered a halt to the implementation of one of President Trump's first acts in office as 47-- his signing an executive order on Jan. 20 that seeks to keep illegal immigrants from claiming asylum at the U.S. border, or gaining the ability to remain in the country while their application for asylum is considered.
That wasn't all Judge Randolph D. Moss, who was appointed to the benchby President Barack Obama in 2014, did on Wednesday, though. Let me sort things out one at a time here.
First, the judge in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia said in his ruling that President Trump's EO, if allowed to stand, would exceed the constitutional authority he has as president, as well as existing law passed by Congress -- namely, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). His decision comes in a suit brought by the ACLU, among other advocacy groups for illegals:
Moss said Wednesday that Trump "lacks the inherent constitutional authority" to supplant federal statutes governing removals.
"To hold otherwise would render much, if not most, of the INA simply optional," he added in the 128-page opinion.
Moss did acknowledge that "the executive branch faces enormous challenges in preventing and deterring unlawful entry into the United States and in adjudicating the overwhelming backlog of asylum claims of those who have entered the country,” but wrote that it can't be handled through the executive order process alone.
Here was the plaintiffs' argument:
The immigrant rights groups behind the lawsuit have argued that the Trump administration had usurped Congress’s power to make laws governing the system for asylum. They brought a legal challenge on behalf of more than a dozen people who had been detained or removed from the United States without their asylum claims being addressed.
...
The lawsuit aimed to halt the rollout of Mr. Trump’s policy, which lawyers said put the asylum seekers at imminent risk of being sent back to the nations they had fled.
The countries' citizens represented by the suit include Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Peru, and Turkey.
Then, Moss put a stay of 14 days on Wednesday's decision, which will give Team Trump the time to appeal his ruling.
Lastly, Judge Moss "granted plaintiffs' request to certify a class of migrants who...were either subject to Trump's proclamation heard by the court or would be subject to it in the future," which in theory keeps the ACLU's lawsuit "under the new limitations set forth by the Supreme Court" on June 27 in the Trump v. CASA case. RedState has written extensively about the SCOTUS ruling, and you can find some of that in the pieces below.
RELATED: Big: Supreme Court Rules on Nationwide Injunctions in Birthright Citizenship Cases
Justice Barrett Rightfully Blasts Justice Jackson's Dangerous Rejection of Constitutional Order
Here's a simple explanation of what the ACLU and the plaintiffs are trying to do with this move
As part of the ruling on Wednesday, Judge Moss also agreed to certify asylum seekers in the case as a class, an important win for those individuals after the Supreme Court last week limited the power of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions. Class actions, involving many people in a similar situation, were not affected by the court’s ruling on birthright citizenship.
So far, there has not been a reaction on Truth Social or elsewhere to the ruling by the president, but senior advisor Stephen Miller didn't mince words on his X account about the bit on making a "protected global class." He wrote:
Miller chided the judge for "try[ing] to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling on nationwide injunctions a marxist [sic] judge has declared that all potential FUTURE illegal aliens on foreign soil (eg a large portion of planet earth) are part of a protected global 'class' entitled to admission into the United States."
This is a developing story. RedState will provide updates as more information becomes available.
Editor's Note: Donald Trump and his team have been fighting against the left’s extreme agenda.
Help us continue exposing Democrats' plans to lead America down a dangerous path. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.