Summary
First, it acted with startling speed—so quickly, in fact, that it published the order before Alito could finish writing his dissent; he was forced to note only that a “statement” would “follow.”
Relatedly, awkward phrasing in court’s order may imply that Alito—who first received the plaintiffs’ request—failed to refer it to the full court, as is custom, compelling the other justices to rip the case away from him.
Second, it is plain as day that the Supreme Court simply did not trust the Trump administration’s claims that it would not deport migrants over the weekend without due process.
Finally, and perhaps most obviously, it’s critical that only Thomas and Alito noted their dissents. When the court takes emergency action, justices don’t have to note their votes, but they usually do; we can probably assume that this order was 7–2. That would mean that Chief Justice John Roberts—along Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett—joined this rebuke to the Trump administration.
They didn’t. They just don’t want to nullify their own power
I mean, that’s exactly why the checks and balances were set up this way. The founding fathers assumed no one branch would want to concede to another. Really it’s congress fucking it all up right now.
Yeah, congress refusing to check Trump has really allowed everything to snowball. They’re abdicating a LOT of power, purely because Trump has an ® next to his name.
This is a good point you raise. Even so, this works in the people’s favor.
Having the branches of government fight amongst themselves is kinda the idea.
It’s when they all fall in line behind one man that you get 1930s Germany.
Would I prefer they fight over how best to improve life for all of us and not how best to oppress people? Sure. But we’re talking choosing between lesser evils here.
I always look to what people actually do, not what they describe as their reasons. It doesn’t matter if you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, as long as you do the right thing. We have so much disengenuousness these days, look to their actions, not their words.