A federal appeals court on Aug. 13 dismissed a major challenge to President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, ruling that the appeal had become moot after the government deported the three plaintiffs using ordinary immigration law.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision effectively ducked the core legal question. By dismissing the appeal as moot, or legally irrelevant, on procedural grounds, the court avoided ruling on whether the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was lawful.
The full Fifth Circuit ruled in W.M.M. v. Trump that it no longer had jurisdiction, or authority, to decide the dispute involving three Venezuelan men….