(Bloomberg) -- A divided U.S. Supreme Court bolstered the government’s ability to quickly deport people who enter the country illegally, siding with the Trump administration and refusing to give asylum seekers a broad right to make their case to a federal judge.
Ruling against a Sri Lankan man arrested near the Mexican border, the justices said the Constitution doesn’t give asylum seekers the right to request a court order letting them stay in the country. The vote was 7-2, though only the court’s five conservative justices joined the most sweeping reasoning.
The decision could have a broad impact, potentially affecting the rights of millions of people who have never had legal status in the country.
Writing for the court, Justice Samuel Alito said asylum bids would go beyond what the Constitution’s framers envisioned when they adopted protections for so-called habeas corpus petitions, which typically seek release from detention.
“The relief requested falls outside the scope of the writ as it was understood when the Constitution was adopted,” Alito wrote in the court’s lead opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined Alito’s opinion.
