In
the
1960s,
an
onslaught
of
rock
bands
from
the
UK
found
their
way
into
America’s
jukeboxes.
So
many
artists
crossed
the
Pond
that
the
media
playfully
dubbed
it
the
“British
Invasion.”
While
a
vocal
subset
of
old
people
would
rant
that
the
country
would
lapse
into
moral
peril
because
Ringo’s
hair
was
too
long,
the
moniker
was
just
a
headline-friendly
way
to
talk
about
an
unfolding
cultural
phenomenon.
According
to
the
Trump
administration,
the
term
“British
Invasion”
is
all
a
president
needed
to
hear
to
justify
throwing
Paul
McCartney
into
a
foreign
gulag.
A
couple
years
ago,
that
sentence
would
—
rightly
—
be
dismissed
as
unfair
hyperbole.
In
2026,
it’s
a
routine
Thursday
for
the
Department
of
Justice.
To
set
the
stage,
the
Trump
administration
persists
in
its
assertion
of
broad
power
under
the
Alien
Enemies
Act
of
1798.
The
18th
century
law
grants
the
executive
branch
authority
to
expel
foreign
nationals
during
an
invasion.
That’s
not
in
dispute.
The
Trump
DOJ’s
new,
deliciously
ahistorical
twist
contends
that
presidents
have
exclusive,
unquestioned
power
to
define
whatever
they
want
as
an
“invasion.”
If
a
dementia-addled
president
decides
that
foreign-born
members
of
a
street
gang
are
an
“invasion,”
he
can
round
up
and
expel
anyone
they
claim
has
ties
to
that
group.
And
no
judicial
process
can
question
them.
Despite
getting
a
back
of
the
hand
from
the
Supreme
Court,
the
government
continues
to
take
this
stance.
During
yesterday’s
Fifth
Circuit
en
banc
hearing,
Chief
Judge
Jennifer
Walker
Elrod
asked
if
the
administration
took
the
position
that
a
president
could
decide
the
“British
Invasion”
was
an
“invasion”
under
the
Alien
Enemies
Act
and
start
deporting
the
Beatles.
She
described
the
hypothetical
as
“fanciful,”
but
a
better
description
is
“the
ultimate
softball.”
When
a
sympathetic
judge
—
say,
a
deeply
conservative
George
W.
Bush
appointee
—
lays
out
a
facially
absurd
scenario,
it’s
an
invitation
to
articulate
limits.
“No,
what
the
silly
liberals
don’t
understand
is
that
of
course
the
president
couldn’t
deport
a
music
group
just
because
parents
don’t
like
their
music,
but
here’s
why
this
vicious
gang
is
different….”
It’s
a
disingenuous
straw
argument
being
hand-delivered
by
a
judge.
Assistant
Attorney
General
Drew
Ensign
rejected
this
gift:
“These
sort
of
questions
of
foreign
affairs
and
the
security
of
the
nation
are
specifically
political
issues,”
said
Drew
Ensign,
an
assistant
attorney
general
who
was
arguing
the
administration’s
case
before
the
full
5th
Circuit
Court
of
Appeals.
In
other
words:
yeah,
we
could
throw
John
Lennon
into
CECOT
and
fuck
you
for
daring
to
question
us.
They’ve
got
a
military
command
structure
under
this
“Sgt.
Pepper”
and
our
intelligence
suggests
that
the
may
already
have
access
to
a
yellow
submarine.
Is
Ensign
secretly
attempting
to
undermine
the
administration
from
within?
Because,
as
an
act
of
sabotage,
it
could
be
brilliant.
As
an
act
of
straightforward
appellate
advocacy,
it’s
comically
inept.
Then
again,
his
hands
might
be
tied.
The
powers-that-be
within
this
administration
appear
committed
to
taking
maximalist
positions
on
every
question
of
executive
power.
You
can’t
build
an
authoritarian
regime
on
sensible
takes.
The
Alien
Enemies
Act
has
only
been
invoked
three
times
before.
Twice
during
world
wars
—
including
the
internment
of
Japanese
Americans
in
a
shameful
episode
that
everyone
to
the
left
of
the
skinheads
agree
was
a
horrific
policy
—
and
once
during
the
War
of
1812…
when
the
U.S.
was
actually
invaded.
Attempting
to
use
the
statute
against
a
criminal
gang
—
even
when
clinging
to
a
fig
leaf
assertion
that
gang
members
were
intentionally
sent
here
by
a
Venezuelan
regime
running
a
drug
cartel
that
the
DOJ
has
already
acknowledged
doesn’t
really
exist
—
already
stretched
the
text
to
the
preposterous.
Taking
the
position
that
it
could
extend
to
musical
groups
crosses
into
the
surreal.
ACLU
attorney
Lee
Gelernt
pointed
out:
Tren
de
Aragua
is
committing
ordinary
crimes
that
are
being
dealt
with
by
law
enforcement.
The
Alien
Enemies
Act
is
about
wartime
and
it’s
about
the
military.
That
should
be
obvious
to
anyone
who’s
read
the
statute.
But
this
is
2026,
and
“obvious”
left
the
building
a
while
ago.
However
the
Fifth
Circuit
rules,
this
matter
rests
on
a
collision
course
with
the
Supreme
Court.
In
another
midnight
special
from
the
shadow
docket
factory,
the
Supreme
Court
already
rejected
the
idea
that
the
administration
can
use
this
law
to
deport
people
without
any
due
process.
That
said,
the
majority
limited
the
rights
of
deportees
to
challenge
their
foreign
imprisonment
through
the
habeas
process.
It
was
another
gift
to
the
administration
from
conservative
judges,
giving
the
government
freedom
to
engage
in
its
most
egregious
actions
as
long
as
it
conceded
to
minimal
—
if
not
functionally
non-existent
—
legal
safeguards.
But
there
is
no
legal
bar
too
low
that
this
DOJ
won’t
demand
that
courts
push
lower.
And
so,
it
would
seem,
the
administration
is
uninterested
in
accepting
that
gift
too.
Could
a
president
deploy
wartime
law
against
the
Beatles?
Trump
administration
says
“Yes”
[AP
via
ABC
News]
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
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Follow
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