Three Key Takeaways:
- Neil Gorsuch angered conservatives by siding with liberal Justices in a crucial immigration case, Monsalvo Velazquez v. Bondi, which involved extending deadlines for voluntary departure due to weekends and holidays, a decision that undermines strict immigration enforcement.
- The ruling raises concerns about Gorsuch’s commitment to President Trump’s immigration agenda, especially with the Court’s upcoming hearings on birthright citizenship and other key immigration issues.
- Conservative justices, including Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, dissented from Gorsuch’s decision, highlighting growing doubts about whether Trump-appointed Justices will support the President’s border security policies.
Donald Trump made history by appointing three Supreme Court Justices during his first term.
Not all of those appointees are showing loyalty to conservative principles.
And Neil Gorsuch betrayed Donald Trump with one shocking move that has conservatives furious.
Gorsuch sides with liberal Justices on immigration case
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch – who Donald Trump nominated to the Court in 2017 – has sided with the liberal wing on a pivotal immigration case that could signal trouble ahead for the President’s border policies.
In a stunning 5-4 decision, Gorsuch joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court’s three liberal Justices in ruling against the government in Monsalvo Velazquez v. Bondi, a case involving immigration deadlines.
The ruling centered on the interpretation of a 60-day “voluntary departure” deadline, which allows certain immigrants deemed to have “good moral character” to leave the United States on their own terms rather than face deportation.
Gorsuch, writing for the majority, declared that if these 60-day deadlines fall on weekends or holidays, they should be extended to the next business day.
“When Congress adopts a new law against the backdrop of a ‘long-standing administrative construction,’ the Court generally presumes the new provision works in harmony with what came before,” Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.
The Trump-appointed justice added that “Since at least the 1950s, immigration regulations have provided that when calculating deadlines, the term ‘day’ carries its specialized meaning by excluding Sundays and legal holidays (and later Saturdays) if a deadline would otherwise fall on one of those days.”
Conservative Justices slam the ruling
The Court’s more conservative Justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and surprisingly Amy Coney Barrett – all dissented from the ruling.
Justice Alito blasted the decision, saying that 60 days means 60 days, not 60 days plus weekends and holidays.
“There will always be a sympathetic pro se alien who is a day or two late,” Alito wrote in his dissent. “Unless the Court is willing to extend the statutory deadline indefinitely, it would presumably be forced to say in such cases that a day too late is just too bad.”
The case overturned decisions by both the Board of Immigration Appeals and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had rejected that interpretation for Monsalvo Velázquez, a 32-year-old Colorado resident who was facing removal in 2019.
Major implications for Trump’s immigration agenda
While this specific case might seem technical, the implications are massive for President Trump’s broader immigration agenda.
The ruling comes just weeks before the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on May 15 in a case challenging President Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship in America.
This decision raises serious concerns about whether Trump-appointed Justices will actually support the President’s initiatives to secure the border and restore order to America’s immigration system.
Gorsuch’s betrayal is particularly stinging for conservatives who championed his nomination. Trump selected Gorsuch for the Supreme Court specifically because of his textualist approach to the Constitution and his conservative credentials.
Yet when it comes to immigration – one of the most critical issues for Trump’s base – Gorsuch has now aligned himself with the Court’s liberal wing.
The ruling also raises questions about Chief Justice John Roberts, who once again demonstrated his willingness to side with the Court’s liberal bloc on contentious issues.
Trump’s border agenda hangs in the balance
This case is just the first of several major immigration rulings expected this year. The Supreme Court is set to consider cases on due process protections for migrants and nationwide injunctions blocking Trump’s immigration policies.
With Gorsuch showing his willingness to break ranks with conservatives on immigration, President Trump’s bold agenda to secure America’s borders faces serious judicial obstacles.
Immigration remains one of the most pressing issues for American voters, who elected Trump in part because of his promises to secure the border and reform the nation’s broken immigration system.
If the President can’t count on the Justices he appointed, his ability to deliver on those promises will be severely compromised.
