The Justice Department on Tuesday accused a federal judge of “unprecedented defiance” following a Supreme Court decision that lifted nationwide restrictions on the Trump administration’s ability to deport convicted criminals to third countries with no ties to the individuals.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency motion at the Supreme Court seeking clarification of the Monday evening ruling after U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy stated in a docket entry that he did not interpret the Supreme Court’s action as invalidating his May 21 order that blocked the removal of six South Sudanese nationals currently held at a U.S. military facility in Djibouti.
Murphy stated that he believed only his earlier nationwide injunction—granting all affected migrants the opportunity to contest their deportation on grounds of potential torture, persecution, or death—had been stayed.
In his filing, Sauer argued the judge’s latest action was “a lawless act of defiance” that interfered with U.S. diplomatic efforts and delayed lawful deportations. He urged the Court to explicitly declare Murphy’s ruling void and proposed removing him from the case altogether.
“This court should immediately make clear that the district court’s enforcement order has no effect,” Sauer wrote, warning that the executive branch and its agents face “baseless threat of contempt” while holding “dangerous criminal aliens” at a base near a regional conflict in the Horn of Africa.
Read the Emergency Motion
