The White House, speaking out after lawsuits poured in Saturday following the Supreme Court's ruling temporarily blocking efforts to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals being held in northern Texas under the 18th-century wartime law, called the litigation "meritless."
"We are confident in the lawfulness of the Administration's actions and in ultimately prevailing against an onslaught of meritless litigation brought by radical activists who care more about the rights of terrorist aliens than those of the American people," press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Saturday afternoon to Politico.
The White House's statement came out more than 12 hours after the high court in a 7-2 decision early Saturday ordered a temporary halt to the deportations, with Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas publicly dissenting.
The ruling came after a push from the American Civil Liberties Union to prevent what it said is a due process violation for immigrants who are receiving the notice of their "imminent" deportation from the United States.
The court's ruling came just hours after attorneys representing the migrants brought a challenge, even before lower courts had yet to rule.
The government also had not submitted its response. And Alito's dissenting statement, which was "to follow," had not been released as of Saturday afternoon.
Leavitt's statement was followed by the Department of Justice submitting a response, calling the Supreme Court ruling an "unprecedented injunction."
It pointed out that an appeals court early Saturday called the ACLU's motion premature and said the group of immigrants being held in north Texas were not certified yet as a class.
The DOJ response, written by Solicitor General D. John Sauer, requests the court clarify that the order will not keep the administration from deporting the Venezuelan detainees through the use of other methods beyond the Alien Enemies Act.
President Donald Trump has ramped up his attacks on lower-court justices who have ruled against his immigration agenda, including personal barbs at U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, who last month ordered the administration to turn around planes during its first deportations using the act.
Saturday, however, Leavitt's statement did not target any particular Supreme Court justice.
Meanwhile, Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, said the Supreme Court is "infected with a parasitical ideology that denies reason and common sense." He accused judges in the nation's courts, including the majority in the high court, of having "absolutely no understanding of law and its proper function and role."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.