Summary
First, it acted with startling speedāso quickly, in fact, that it published the order before Alito could finish writing his dissent; he was forced to note only that a āstatementā would āfollow.ā
Relatedly, awkward phrasing in courtās order may imply that Alitoāwho first received the plaintiffsā requestāfailed to refer it to the full court, as is custom, compelling the other justices to rip the case away from him.
Second, it is plain as day that the Supreme Court simply did not trust the Trump administrationās claims that it would not deport migrants over the weekend without due process.
Finally, and perhaps most obviously, itās critical that only Thomas and Alito noted their dissents. When the court takes emergency action, justices donāt have to note their votes, but they usually do; we can probably assume that this order was 7ā2. That would mean that Chief Justice John Robertsāalong Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrettājoined this rebuke to the Trump administration.
Itās kinda amazing how this was something people debated for a long time, talked about potential benefits and consequences, tossed around different reasonable ways to mitigate harm that might be done, what the point or use would beā¦
Then Trump just signs a piece of paper, and itās barely even newsworthy before we move to the next thing.