The Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling Friday said the Trump administration violated the due process rights of Venezuelan migrants in its rushed effort to remove them from the U.S. last month using the Alien Enemies Act.

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Friday, May 16



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SCOTUS: Trump violated Venezuelan migrants’ rights with attempted removals

- The Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling ([link removed] ) Friday said the Trump administration violated the due process rights of Venezuelan migrants in its rushed effort to remove them from the U.S. last month using the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), a 1798 wartime law.

- Through its order, the Supreme Court extended its pause on AEA removals from the Northern District of Texas. However, the court did not determine whether the Trump administration can ultimately carry out removals using the AEA. It asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to determine whether President Donald Trump’s use of the AEA was legal and how much notice is due to those targeted by the act.

In other SCOTUS news

- Trump is asking ([link removed] ) SCOTUS to lift a block on mass layoffs in the government. Last week, a federal court ordered the administration to cease workforce cuts.

Congressional agency rebuffs Trump bid to expand power grab

- Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) unsuccessfully attempted ([link removed] ) to install its own officials at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a key legislative watchdog. A GAO spokesperson told Democracy Docket that the office is part of the legislative branch, and that as a result, it rebuffed DOGE’s advance.

How to find out what DOGE knows about you

- DOGE is going from one federal agency to another attempting to collect ([link removed] ) and centralize vast amounts of personal information on millions of people in the U.S., including social security numbers, medical and banking records and more.

- Under the Privacy Act, citizens have the right to request to know what personal information may be held by federal agencies. And since the Trump administration is funding DOGE as if it were a federal agency, people should be able to make Privacy Act requests to it, too. Here's how ([link removed] ) .

Louisiana sued over vague proof-of-citizenship voting law

- Voting rights groups sued ([link removed] ) Louisiana over a new law that forces voters to show proof of citizenship without saying what counts as proof. The plaintiffs call the law a “solution in search of a phantom threat.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen: This is a “dangerous moment” for all of our civil rights

- Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined ([link removed] ) Marc to discuss his trip to El Salvador to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Trump administration's attacks on the rule of law and why all of our civil rights are at risk.

- "They want to set the stage for depriving people of their constitutional rights,” Van Hollen said. “And that is why this is such a dangerous moment...because if we strip [Abrego Garcia] of his right to due process, it opens everybody up to the same vulnerability."

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