In a stunner for liberals everywhere, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has sided with President Trump on an asylum issue.
It was a major victory for President Trump and his administration on Thursday when the Supreme Court ruled that asylum seekers who have their claims rejected cannot object, The New York Times reported.
The Supreme Court ruled that immigrants whose requests for asylum were rejected in bare-bone summary proceedings may not contest the denials in federal court.
The case, which concerns the fundamental question of who is entitled to seek habeas corpus, will affect thousands of asylum seekers.
The vote was 7 to 2. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.
The case concerned Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam, a member of Sri Lanka’s Tamil ethnic minority who was apprehended about 25 yards north of the Mexican border near San Ysidro, Calif.
He sought asylum, saying he would face a credible fear of persecution if he were returned to Sri Lanka. His request was considered under “expedited removal” procedures called for by a 1996 law that streamlined asylum applications from people caught near the border and barred courts from reviewing most aspects of the determinations made under the procedures.
Mr. Thuraissigiam, a farmer, told an asylum officer that he had been heavily beaten in Sri Lanka by men who had blindfolded and abducted him. He said that he had spent 11 days in a hospital recovering from his injuries.
“Habeas has traditionally been a means to secure release from unlawful detention, but respondent invokes the writ to achieve an entirely different end, namely, to obtain additional administrative review of his asylum claim and ultimately to obtain authorization to stay in this country,” the decision written by Justice Samuel Alito said.
He notes concluding that this approach “fails because it would extend the writ of habeas corpus far beyond its scope ‘when the Constitution was drafted and ratified.’”
The decision was joined by all conservative members of the court, including Chief Justice John Roberts, and another liberal Justice Stephen Breyer.
The Democrats on social media were furious with Justice Ginsburg, someone who they routinely celebrate.
“I’m begging you guys to stop lionizing Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She sided with the majority on this inhumane heap of flaming garbage,” posted a Twitter user.
