Roberts Aligns With Liberal Wing in Ruling Against Trump's Asylum Ban
The high court, 5-4, refused to stay a nationwide injunction. Several former government lawyers—including Carter Phillips and Peter Keisler of Sidley Austin, and John Bellinger of Arnold & Porter—were amicus parties at the Supreme Court in a brief against the Trump administration.
December 21, 2018 at 03:25 PM
3 minute read
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. at the investiture of Neil Gorsuch in June 15, 2017. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. joined the U.S. Supreme Court's liberal wing Friday in refusing to block a California judge's ruling against enforcement of new policies that restrict asylum-seekers along the southern border.
The high court, voting 5-4, left in place a ruling from U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco that enjoined the Trump administration from enforcing the new asylum policies. Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito Jr., Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas voted to grant the Justice Department's request to stay the ruling.
The Justice Department had urged the Supreme Court to halt Tigar's nationwide injunction, saying the administration's new rules, limiting entry to designated ports, were crafted to confront a “crisis at the southern border.”
Tigar on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction against the new rules, replacing a temporary restraining order that he first issued on Nov. 19. Tigar found the new regulations “inconsistent with the will of Congress as expressed in the United States' immigration statutes.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Dec. 7 upheld the temporary restraining order. “Just as we may not, as we are often reminded, 'legislate from the bench,' neither may the Executive legislate from the Oval Office,” Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee wrote for the panel this month.
Several former government lawyers—including Carter Phillips and Peter Keisler of Sidley Austin, and John Bellinger of Arnold & Porter—were amicus parties at the Supreme Court in a brief against the Trump administration.
“A stay is contrary to the public interest because a stay would permit the executive branch to violate a duly-enacted statute for months,” the brief said.
Tigar's initial ruling sparked an extraordinary back-and-forth between Roberts and President Donald Trump, who called Tigar an “Obama judge.”
“Every case that gets filed in the Ninth Circuit, we get beaten,” Trump said. “And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won.”
Roberts last month issued a rare statement rebuking Trump, saying saying the United States doesn't have “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.”
Read more:
Judge Emmet Sullivan Just Wrecked Trump's New Asylum Restrictions
California Judge Again Blocks Trump's Changes to Asylum Rules
Judges Push Back at Trump's Anti-Judiciary Tweets
Why Asylum Law Can't Be Undercut by Presidential Fiat
Chief Justice Roberts Rebuffs Trump After He Criticizes Judges Again
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Is 1st Circuit the New Center for Trump Policy Challenges?
Insurance Policies Don’t Cover Home Depot's Data Breach Costs, 6th Circuit Says
'Religious Discrimination'?: 4th Circuit Revives Challenge to Employer Vaccine Mandate
2 minute read
Standing Spat: Split 2nd Circuit Lets Challenge to Pfizer Diversity Program Proceed
Trending Stories
- 1Is 1st Circuit the New Center for Trump Policy Challenges?
- 2Justices Grill US Government in Venue Dispute Over FDA Vape Challenges
- 3Change Is Coming With the New Trump Era. For Big Law, Change Is Already Here
- 4Private Equity in the UK: The 2025 View From Top Partners
- 5Announcing the 2025 Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards Finalists, Lifetime Achievement Winners & Monica Bay Women of Legal Tech Winners
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
