SCOTUS ‘Benchslaps’ Recalcitrant Federal District Court Judge
The majority won’t reassign the case to a different judge — yet — while dissenting Justice Sotomayor complains the Trump administration ‘has the Supreme Court on speed dial’
By Andrew R. Arthur on July 8, 2025
My colleague George Fishman and I have analyzed the Supreme Court’s June 23 response to an order issued by U.S. district Judge Brian Murphy in D.V.D. v. DHS. That lower court order imposed onerous (and extra-statutory) burdens on the department in removing aliens to “third countries”, that is, nations that aren’t the alien’s country of birth, residence, or nationality. As I then noted, Judge Murphy quickly pushed back, and for his trouble has earned what’s called a “benchslap” from the Supreme Court that includes a concurrence by Justice Kagan — who dissented from the Court’s initial order. Dissenting Justice Sotomayor meanwhile fired a few salvos of her own in the direction of her majority colleagues.
Judge Murphy’s Initial Order
On April 18, 2025, Judge Murphy imposed a preliminary injunction that impeded the administration’s ability to deport aliens to third countries.
That preliminary injunction required DHS to: give written notice to any alien under a final order facing removal to a third country; provide those aliens an opportunity to raise a claim they would be tortured in that third country; move to reopen an alien’s immigration court case if the alien had shown a “reasonable fear” of harm in that third country; and give those aliens 15 days prior to removal to move to reopen their cases if DHS didn’t find they had a reasonable fear.
https://cis.org/Arthur/SCOTUS-Benchslaps-Recalcitrant-Federal-District-Court-Judge
