Seek And It Will Show Up

In today's "One First," a brief history of the Alien Enemy Act and #SCOTUS—including how the statute *wasn't* the basis for the WWII-era internment camps and how it *couldn't* be used against undocumented immigrants as former President Trump is proposing:https://t.co/Pg0cSP8ugF

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) October 14, 2024

The shortest answer, of course, is that Trump doesn’t know shit about the law.

Professor Vladeck provides the longer answer, which turns on the simple fact the law only applies to citizens of a country America is formally at war with. Which is why the law wasn’t used to detain people of Japanese descent during WWII (FDR relied on an executive order, which the courts declined to overrule. The “rule of law” is always a flexible option that easily twists into pretzel logic when the need arises).

So unless the Roberts Court wants to rewrite two centuries of precedent on the statute (I will never presume they wouldn’t), Trump is just trash talking. Again.

Which is still a damned good reason to vote against him; if you don’t find it another reason to vote for Kamala. To end the traumas. So we can all relax in our pajamalas. 😎