The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily banned President Donald Trump from deporting Venezuelan men under immigration custody early on Saturday after saying lawyers were at risk of removal without previously mandated judicial review.
“The government has been instructed not to remove members of the presumed class of detainees from the United States until further orders from this court,” the judge said in a brief signature decision.
The White House on Saturday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly opposed the decision issued around 12:55am (0455 GMT).
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union filed urgent lawsuits Friday with several courts, including the Supreme Court, urging an immediate lawsuit after reporting that some men had already been loaded onto the bus and were told they would be deported.
The ACLU said that rapid development meant that men were ready to deport men using the 1798 law, which was historically employed only during the war, as needed by the Supreme Court.