Within the Nineteen Sixties, an onslaught of rock bands from the UK discovered their means into America’s jukeboxes. So many artists crossed the Pond that the media playfully dubbed it the “British Invasion.” Whereas a vocal subset of outdated folks would rant that the nation would lapse into ethical peril as a result of Ringo’s hair was too lengthy, the moniker was only a headline-friendly approach to discuss an unfolding cultural phenomenon.
In line with the Trump administration, the time period “British Invasion” is all a president wanted to listen to to justify throwing Paul McCartney right into a international gulag.
A pair years in the past, that sentence would — rightly — be dismissed as unfair hyperbole. In 2026, it’s a routine Thursday for the Division of Justice.
To set the stage, the Trump administration persists in its assertion of broad energy below the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The 18th century regulation grants the manager department authority to expel international nationals throughout an invasion. That’s not in dispute. The Trump DOJ’s new, deliciously ahistorical twist contends that presidents have unique, unquestioned energy to outline no matter they need as an “invasion.” If a dementia-addled president decides that foreign-born members of a avenue gang are an “invasion,” he can spherical up and expel anybody they declare has ties to that group.
And no judicial course of can query them.
Regardless of getting a back of the hand from the Supreme Court, the federal government continues to take this stance. Throughout yesterday’s Fifth Circuit en banc listening to, Chief Decide Jennifer Walker Elrod requested if the administration took the place {that a} president may resolve the “British Invasion” was an “invasion” below the Alien Enemies Act and begin deporting the Beatles. She described the hypothetical as “fanciful,” however a greater description is “the last word softball.” When a sympathetic decide — say, a deeply conservative George W. Bush appointee — lays out a facially absurd state of affairs, it’s an invite to articulate limits. “No, what the foolish liberals don’t perceive is that in fact the president couldn’t deport a music group simply because mother and father don’t like their music, however right here’s why this vicious gang is totally different….” It’s a disingenuous straw argument being hand-delivered by a decide.
Assistant Legal professional Basic Drew Ensign rejected this gift:
“These kind of questions of international affairs and the safety of the nation are particularly political points,” stated Drew Ensign, an assistant lawyer common who was arguing the administration’s case earlier than the complete fifth Circuit Court docket of Appeals.
In different phrases: yeah, we may throw John Lennon into CECOT and fuck you for daring to query us. They’ve acquired a army command construction below this “Sgt. Pepper” and our intelligence means that the could have already got entry to a yellow submarine.
Is Ensign secretly trying to undermine the administration from inside? As a result of, as an act of sabotage, it might be good. As an act of easy appellate advocacy, it’s comically inept. Then once more, his arms may be tied. The powers-that-be inside this administration seem dedicated to taking maximalist positions on each query of govt energy. You possibly can’t construct an authoritarian regime on smart takes.
The Alien Enemies Act has solely been invoked thrice earlier than. Twice throughout world wars — together with the internment of Japanese People in a shameful episode that everybody to the left of the skinheads agree was a horrific coverage — and as soon as through the Conflict of 1812… when the U.S. was truly invaded. Trying to make use of the statute in opposition to a prison gang — even when clinging to a fig leaf assertion that gang members have been deliberately despatched right here by a Venezuelan regime working a drug cartel that the DOJ has already acknowledged doesn’t really exist — already stretched the textual content to the preposterous. Taking the place that it may prolong to musical teams crosses into the surreal.
ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt identified:
Tren de Aragua is committing unusual crimes which are being handled by regulation enforcement. The Alien Enemies Act is about wartime and it’s concerning the army.
That needs to be apparent to anybody who’s learn the statute. However that is 2026, and “apparent” left the constructing some time in the past.
Nonetheless the Fifth Circuit guidelines, this matter rests on a collision course with the Supreme Court docket. In one other midnight particular from the shadow docket manufacturing unit, the Supreme Court docket already rejected the concept that the administration can use this regulation to deport folks with none due course of. That stated, the bulk restricted the rights of deportees to problem their international imprisonment by way of the habeas course of. It was one other reward to the administration from conservative judges, giving the federal government freedom to have interaction in its most egregious actions so long as it conceded to minimal — if not functionally non-existent — authorized safeguards. However there isn’t a authorized bar too low that this DOJ gained’t demand that courts push decrease.
And so, it might appear, the administration is bored with accepting that reward too.
Could a president deploy wartime law against the Beatles? Trump administration says “Yes” [AP via ABC News]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Regulation and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Be at liberty to email any ideas, questions, or feedback. Comply with him on Twitter or Bluesky in the event you’re thinking about regulation, politics, and a wholesome dose of faculty sports activities information. Joe additionally serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.