Victory! Supreme Court Allows End
of Venezuelan TPS
IRLI—now part of FAIR—had shown Court action is within Trump’s authority
WASHINGTON—On Friday, the Supreme Court suspended, or stayed, an affirmance by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of a lower court’s final judgment that would keep Venezuelans granted an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the Biden administration in the country while a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s rescission of that extension went through the courts.
Previously in this case, following a brief by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI)—which has since joined the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)—urging the Supreme Court to stay or suspend an order of the lower court blocking Trump’s rescission, the Court did so.
In Friday’s suspension, the Supreme Court stated that the reasons for its earlier suspension still applied.
In its brief in the Supreme Court, IRLI had showed that, according to longstanding precedent, the President here exercised his inherent authority, as Commander-in-Chief, to protect the nation by excluding aliens, and that the TPS statute should be interpreted not to infringe on this authority.
After the Supreme Court stayed the district court’s preliminary order, the district court doubled down on that order, turning it into a final judgment, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed that final judgment.
On Friday, in suspending that Ninth Circuit ruling, the Supreme Court signaled that the chances that plaintiffs would prevail on the merits of their lawsuit were still low.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the President’s inherent authority to exclude aliens, and ‘inherent’ clearly means he may exercise it even when he is not guided by a specific statute,” said Christopher J. Hajec, deputy general counsel of FAIR. “We are pleased the Court refused to rule to the detriment of this vital presidential authority, and granted the stay.”
The case is Noem v. National TPS Alliance, No. 25A326 (Supreme Court).
