CNN legal analyst Elie Honig blasted Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s claims about the administration’s deportation tactics, saying Miller was “flat-out wrong” after the Supreme Court ruled against he administration.
Miller posted on X on Sunday that the only “process” Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia was entitled to was “deportation” after a federal judge ruled the government must return the Salvadorian to the U.S.—because, as the Trump administration has admitted, he never should have been deported in the first place.
However, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that even migrants the government sought to deport under the wartime Alien Enemies Act must be given time to appeal the decision—making Miller’s point wrong, Honig said.
“That’s flat-out wrong by Stephen Miller,” Honig told Anderson Cooper on Anderson Cooper 360 on Monday. “Even the six conservative justices say anyone is allowed to go into court to challenge this.”
The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration was allowed to proceed with enforcing the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that gives the executive branch more power to remove migrants it deems threats to national security.
The three liberal justices and conservative Amy Coney Barrett offered dissents, and the court ruled that the migrants must be allowed to have a federal court review the deportation orders in the district where they’re being held.
“The majority, the conservative justices, said, ‘You have to do it through this thing called habeas,’ which has to be filed in the district where the actual person is being held,“ Honig said. ”The liberals wanted to give broader rights to challenge this in court more broadly, geographically and with respect to how they challenge it. Everyone agrees you can challenge this in court.”
Still, Trump, Miller, and a slew of national security officials heralded the decision as a win for the administration’s efforts to impose sweeping deportation orders.
“This was a huge, I mean monumental victory for President Trump,” Miller said on Hannity Monday. “Those monsters can now be hunted down and expelled from this country with speed, force, and efficiency.”
Just so long, Honig said, that a court gets a say in the decision.
“All nine justices agree that any deportee under this act does have a right to go to the courts and to challenge it,” Honig said.
