Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Supreme Court Makes Shock Ruling on Trump Scheme

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

If you are a member of the Cuba, Venezuelan, Haitian or Nicaraguan American community who voted for Trump, you are in for a rude awakening, as the Supreme Court MAGA right majority just gave a big green light for Trump to immediately deport “Documented” people from those countries living under protective status in the US under Biden as they with US sponsors help seek asylum and other legal status. Michael Popok takes a close look at Justice Jackson’s stinging dissent and outlines what should happen next in the voting booth. Square: Get up to $200 OFF Square hardware when you sign up at https://Square.com/go/legalaf #squarepod Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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or Venezuelan population, then you woke up today to a big surprise because the United States Supreme Court just sided with Donald Trump to deport 500,000 people that are here legally under temporary protective status to allow them to work here, to live here with a sponsor while they seek asylum and other permanent legal status. No, says Trump, all of you Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, not by case by case, but en masse, you're leaving.

You're leaving your friends and family behind and you're going back to war-torn countries that you just left and the reason you were given temporary protective status by the Biden administration and other administrations in the first place. I'm Michael Popock. Let's dive into the new United States Supreme Court decision. It appears to be a 7-2 decision, but with a stinging rebuke and dissent written by Katanji Brown Jackson. This case came out of Massachusetts up to the First Circuit, which refused to grant a stay, but now the Supreme Court, at least apparently on its face, has granted a stay, meaning Donald

Trump is free to deport people, 500,000 people, while the appeal continues because they have determined that Donald Trump and the administration are likely to win on this mass deportation and violation of our temporary protective status program. You're on Midas Touch and Legal AF, I'm Michael Popock. Let's get to it. First Circuit did the right thing. The trial judge in Massachusetts did the right thing, finding that Kristi Noem and the Trump administration

acted arbitrarily and capriciously in making not a case by case determination, but doing it en masse. There's even an argument that under the statute that the new Homeland Security Secretary cannot undo that which the prior Homeland Security Director already determined. In other words, those countries didn't get any better. The rationale for keeping these people out of harm's way

and under our protective wing hasn't changed just because there's been a new election. I mean, that's the argument. And so, but the Supreme Court and its infinite wisdom, and I use that term lightly, took a look at the factors. And there are factors that have to be applied. Factors that Katanji Brown Jackson quite pointedly says and calls out her dissent,

I'll read to you from in a minute, says they botched, they botched the assessment. And we call them in the business, the Nikken Factors or the Nikken Factors, N-K-E-N, it's based on a case from 2009. And before the Supreme Court can grant a stay while a appeal is pending, because the merits haven't yet been decided, that the court has

to determine whether, and it's supposed to be a heavy burden, especially when the lower court, the First Circuit, has already denied the stay. But the Supreme Court has to determine that there is a fair prospect that the decision was wrong by the First circuit. So in other words, a reversal on the merits is likely, that cert is likely to be granted, and that the irreparable harm lies with the Trump administration, to which Katanji Brown Jackson asks, what is the irreparable harm to the government?

The government's being burdened because it can't go forward immediately with its depraved unconstitutional deportation program. How are they being injured versus the, if you're looking at the balance here, look how these individuals now uprooted from families, from sponsors, from a life they've been living for more than two years in the United States.

They are not undocumented, they are documented. We sometimes refer to them because that's how the statute refers to them, as parolees, but don't be confused and conflated with the language of prisons. They're not on parole. It just means they've gone through a process, they're under the jurisdiction of our immigration process

and an immigration law judge, and they've been let out back into society for the next couple of years while they do a couple of important things. Stay out of trouble, work to live the American dream, and try to apply for permanent status in the United States. I mean, if they can't get asylum, and they can't get from the United States, and they can't get other legal status to stay in the United States, yes, they will go. They will not be able to stay under the TPS. But this is not about people violating the temporary protective

status that have stayed too long. This is just people who are currently within their two year window who are being churned the door. And for those in the Cuban community, the Venezuelan community, which is very strong, where I live in Miami. Shame on you. If you thought that Donald Trump was going to sort of avoid your communities, your constituencies, because you celebrated him and helped get him elected, you were wrong. I'm sure you know one degree of separation. If not closer, people who are now being forced

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when you sign up at square.com slash go slash LegalAF. That's S-Q-U-A-R-E.com slash go slash legal AF. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. Let me read to you from Katanji Brown Jackson's scathing descent here, because this is what we do and it's important. Give me one second here, let me pull it up

from my magic bag of downloaded Supreme Court decisions. Here's what Justice Jackson said, because the actual order on this emergency application is one paragraph. So here's what she said. She went through the factors under that case, Nikin or Nikin that I told you about. And she said, in that assessment of those factors

on page two, the court has plainly botched this assessment today. It requires nothing next to nothing from the government with respect to irreparable harm. And it undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million non-citizens while their legal claims are pending. Even if the government is likely to win on the merits and our legal system,

success takes time and the state's standards require more than anticipated victory." She goes on to say, nearly half a million Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan non-citizens are in the United States after fleeing their home countries by virtue of temporary permission granted to them by the Department of Homeland Security." And that's why we call them parolees. She goes on on page three of her eight-page dissent, joined by Judge Sotomayor, the decision whether to stay a lower court's order does not reflect the back of the napkin assessment of which party has the better legal argument.

Because she's challenging and calling out the majority for their sort of back of the hand gratuitous assessment when human lives are at stake. She goes over the fact that the government has failed in its burden, that the harm is greater to the individuals, and that ultimately these human beings deserve more from our country and from the United States of America.

That's how this works. What's going to happen next? Well, it's obvious. The Supreme Court has now given the green light to Donald Trump to deport 500,000 people from these groups. The people that sponsored them, I'm sure, are devastated. The people in those communities, I'm sure, are devastated. These are things that should not be forgotten at the midterm election.

I hope that they're not going to be. We don't have the luxury of the silent majority any longer in this country. We need to act out. We need to put things in plain terms for people to understand it in the marketplace of ideas. And we've got to move forward towards the midterms with these things in mind. If you're a part of those communities or you love or supported those communities, this is a wake up call for you. It should be a wake up call for you. You don't have the Supreme Court to protect you. On immigration, they are, well, they're about 50-50 in siding with Donald Trump, but on important issues like this, they're siding

with Donald Trump. And they're violating their oath and they're violating the statutes that were created by Congress to protect just this type of group from the war torn and politically and economically unstable places from which they came to seek a better life. Whatever happened to Emma Lazarus's poem etched at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty?

Give me your poor, your hungry, your tired, sorry, let me try it again. I don't mean to botch it. Give me your poor, your hungry, you're tired. Sorry, let me try it again. I don't mean to botch it. Give me your poor, you're hungry, you're tired, you're huddled masses yearning to breathe free. That is what my grandparents and great-grandparents, that's what they saw if they got that close when they came through

the Ellis Island Naturalization Center. And that's what most people think of is proper for America. And we gotta keep continuing this fight. We'll fight together here on the Midas Touch Network. We'll fight together on Legal AF, the YouTube channel. Hit the subscribe button in both places. Help us continue to bring this program, programming to you on Interrupted.

So my next report, I'm Michael Popock. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, I'm Michael Popock. AF, what else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We've got some new reporting, we've got interviews, we've got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.