Takeaways from federal appeals court hearing on Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act

The Trump administration pressed a federal appeals court on Monday to lift a judge’s temporary block against President Donald Trump’s use of a sweeping wartime authority to quickly deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang.

The Justice Department pressed a federal appeals court on Monday to lift a judge’s temporary block against President Donald Trump’s use of a sweeping wartime authority to quickly deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang. The nearly hour-long hearing before the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest front in what has become a bitter fight between the administration and the targets of a proclamation Trump signed earlier this month invoking the Alien Enemies Act to summarily remove them from the US. It’s unclear how the three-judge panel considering the Trump administration’s request to put on hold a pair of lower-court orders will rule, or how quickly that ruling will come. Two members of the panel – one liberal, one conservative – peppered attorneys for both sides with a series of questions on various issues central to the case, including whether the individuals subject to Trump’s proclamation lacked any due process rights that would give them a chance to defend against claims that they are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua – and what the appropriate place for such complaints to be raised is. But one member of the panel – Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush – did not ask any questions during the proceedings. Here are the key takeaways from the appeals court hearing: