The federal government says the Supreme Court should allow the TPS revocation to take effect right away while the lower court case is being litigated so removal proceedings can begin and objections to those proceedings can be resolved.
Based on recent emergency stay requests in similar TPS cases, it’s possible the Supreme Court could grant or deny the government’s application within a matter of weeks. It’s also possible that the Supreme Court could soon issue an order in a separate TPS lawsuit involving Syria that impacts Haiti’s legal protections, though the government has asked the court to consolidate the Haiti and Syria cases.
Attorneys for Haitian plaintiffs have said that granting the administration’s emergency request at this stage in the legal proceedings could cause hundreds of thousands of TPS holders to be deported before their legal claims are considered and resolved by the courts.
“This court should not grant expedited relief here and should instead allow these appeals to play out in the ordinary course so that the court does not issue rushed decisions without full appreciation of their broader impact,” wrote attorneys for Haitian TPS holders in a brief filed on March 6 in response to the government’s request for a stay from the Supreme Court in the Syria case.
Credit: NYT
Credit: NYT
New filing
In a new application, Solicitor General D. John Sauer petitioned the Supreme Court to provide emergency relief in a legal fight over the proposed termination of Haiti’s TPS.
A Washington, D.C. district court judge last month blocked the Trump administration’s cancellation of Haiti’s designation, and the federal government claims that ruling interferes with national interest and foreign policy determinations made by the secretary of Homeland Security that seek more strict enforcement of immigration laws.
The solicitor general said allowing poorly screened Haitian TPS holders to remain in the United States is contrary to U.S. goals, and district courts should not be allowed to indefinitely postpone major government policies.
One of the Trump administration’s main arguments is that the DHS secretary’s TPS determinations are not subject to review by the courts, under the TPS statute approved by Congress.
However, Haitian nationals who sued the government are challenging the legality of the process the DHS secretary used to make her determination — not the determination itself.
They allege the secretary did not follow mandatory procedures to cancel protections for Haiti, which is supposed to include an evaluation of country conditions and consultation with appropriate agencies. The Haiti TPS lawsuit says the secretary’s decision to terminate was preordained and based on racial animus toward foreign-born individuals.
The federal government, which denies these allegations, wants the Supreme Court to grant a “writ of certiorari” before judgment that establishes that the federal courts have no jurisdiction or authority to review the DHS secretary’s TPS determinations. The Trump administration is trying to end TPS for 12 countries.
Attorneys for Haitian TPS holders say the government is trying to “fast-track” this case to get a hasty decision from the Supreme Court via its emergency docket, which is also known as the “shadow docket.” They say there is no real emergency here for the government, and the Trump administration has not explained why keeping the status quo for the time being while the lower court cases play out would cause meaningful harm.
The government says the court should not allow lower courts to delay the termination of TPS until all litigation is resolved, especially since that potentially might not happen until Trump’s second term in office is over.
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