The U.S. Supreme Court has added to President Donald Trump's winning streak with another favorable decision on immigration.
The court's lopsided 7-2 ruling rebuked a Biden-appointed judge who tried to stop Trump from deporting a group of hardened, foreign criminals to South Sudan.
The case centers on Trump's efforts to rapidly deport illegal aliens to "third countries" where they have no ties. The controversy deals in particular with eight convicted criminals who were sent to Africa with minimal due process.
In April, a district court judge blocked the Trump administration from removing aliens to third countries without notice. The Supreme Court lifted the injunction in late June, but the district judge, Brian Murphy, claimed that the Supreme Court's ruling did not apply to a separate court order shielding eight men in Djibouti from being sent to South Sudan.
The Trump administration cried foul, accusing Murphy of defying the highest court in the land, and asked the justices to clarify their June ruling.
Now, the court has plainly spoken: Murphy is wrong. This means Trump can proceed with sending the eight men, who are being held at a U.S. base in Djibouti, to South Sudan.
"Our June 23 order stayed the April 18 preliminary injunction in full. The May 21 remedial order cannot now be used to enforce an injunction that our stay rendered unenforceable," the court wrote in a brief unsigned order.
The ruling is a significant win for Trump, as it empowers him to deport aliens whose home countries refuse to take them back. The eight aliens in this case have been convicted of graphic crimes like murder and rape.
"These sickos will be in South Sudan by Independence Day," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek.
The Supreme Court's liberals have focused on human rights concerns, warning that aliens could face torture once deported to unstable countries where they don't know anyone.
Two of the court's liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined in a dissent.
"What the Government wants to do, concretely, is send the eight noncitizens it illegally removed from the United States from Djibouti to South Sudan, where they will be turned over to the local authorities without regard for the likelihood that they will face torture or death," said Justice Sotomayor.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote a short concurring opinion in which she expressed disagreement with the justices' June ruling, but she said the district court was nevertheless out of line to continue enforcing an order that the Supreme Court voided.
"I do not see how a district court can compel compliance with an order that this Court has stayed," she wrote.
