Thanks, CJ Roberts and the Katzenjammer Kids

🚨 Holy crap. The DOJ is arguing that the President can unilaterally deport anyone he wants without ANY statutory authority, just on his inherent authority as President over national security. That is a terrifying claim to make and has never been recognized before in US history. https://t.co/jjVPiDeJGJ pic.twitter.com/yJmC0IRLcG

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) March 15, 2025

I haven’t read Trump v U.S. in a while, but I’m betting that “inherent authority” language comes from CJ Roberts’ majority opinion. I know the idea is a mainstay of the unitary executive theory (i. e., when the right person is POTUS, he is also king*), but though I’ve read this brief is a joke through and through, I still expect the author at least tried to base it, however tenuously, in law.

And apparently this is how they’re trying to argue the AEA doesn’t apply. Because that statute is much more restrictive than “inherent power to do what he likes because NATIONAL SECURITY!” Which the DOJ clearly thinks gives the “right President” carte blanc, because it’s part of his “official duties.”

Right, CJ Roberts?

*Even Thomas and Alito would hesitate to sign on to that (Gorsuch? Well….), because you can’t slice the baloney so thin it only has one side. Even Biden had immunity under Trump v U.S.

Yeah, I think that brief must be a steaming pile of horseshit. This statement sure is:

There is nothing in there that a USAG should say in a public statement. Trump has no “well established authority” to deport people (the brief doesn’t limit that powers to immigrants), or otherwise decide who is “putting the public at risk,” especially unitarily and with no oversight. This is just fucking idiotic.