The Supreme Court did something extraordinary last summer – something that almost never happens in American jurisprudence.
They didn't just overrule a federal judge once. They had to come back a second time and warn him to stop.
And on Thursday, Biden-appointed Judge Brian Murphy of Boston looked at that rare 7-2 Supreme Court rebuke – with even liberal Justice Elena Kagan joining the majority against him – and issued an 81-page ruling blocking the Trump administration's third-country deportation policy anyway.
Judge Brian Murphy Blocked Trump Deportations Again After Two Supreme Court Losses
Murphy first blocked Trump's deportation of criminal illegal aliens to third countries back in April 2025.
The Supreme Court stayed that ruling 6-3 in June.
Murphy looked at the stay and decided it only applied to part of his order – and that a separate ruling he issued on May 21 was still "in full force and effect."
The DOJ went back to the Supreme Court.
The high court came back 7-2 – with Obama's own Justice Elena Kagan joining the majority – and told Murphy in plain language he had crossed a line.
"Our June 23 order stayed the April 18 preliminary injunction in full," the Supreme Court majority wrote, making clear that Murphy's technicality play was finished.
Kagan put it bluntly in her concurrence: "I do not see how a district court can compel compliance with an order that this Court has stayed."
Solicitor General John Sauer called it a "lawless act of defiance" of Supreme Court authority.
DHS Says Third Country Deportation Policy Will Be Vindicated Again at the Supreme Court
The Department of Homeland Security responded to Thursday's ruling with a statement that tells you exactly where this is heading.
"The Supreme Court previously issued two separate emergency stays against Judge Brian Murphy in this case, and we are confident we will be vindicated again," DHS said, adding that the Trump administration "has the constitutional authority to remove these criminal illegal aliens and clean up this national security nightmare."
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson was more direct: "This unlawful ruling, by a lower court Biden judge, will not stand."
Murphy's new ruling declares that DHS's policy of deporting criminal aliens to third countries violates due process because it doesn't give migrants enough time to claim fear of the country they're being sent to.
Murphy even cited what he called the "unusual history" of the case when he stayed his own ruling for 15 days – a grace period he acknowledged he wouldn't offer under normal circumstances – knowing it would go straight back to the Supreme Court.
Why Judge Murphy Keeps Blocking Trump Mass Deportation Flights and What It Costs You
Let's be clear about what's actually happening here.
Biden's open border produced nearly 10 million migrant encounters during his four years.
Trump is now deporting criminal illegal aliens – people with final removal orders – to third countries willing to accept them when their home countries won't take them back.
Murphy wants to require ICE to give each one of these criminals a formal process to claim they might be harmed in the country they're being sent to, ruling that DHS's existing assurances from receiving countries don't satisfy due process.
The pattern here isn't complicated.
A Biden-appointed judge confirmed on a party-line vote keeps throwing a wrench into deportation flights of criminal illegal aliens.
The Supreme Court keeps pulling that wrench back out.
And every week this goes on – every 15-day delay, every new ruling – criminal illegal aliens who belong on those deportation flights stay in American communities instead.
The Supreme Court will almost certainly stay Murphy's latest ruling within days.
But Murphy knows exactly what he's doing, and the damage from each delay is real.
Sources:
- Ashley Oliver, "Biden-appointed judge who slapped down Trump deportation policy previously rebuked by SCOTUS," Fox News, February 26, 2026.
- DHS Statement, Department of Homeland Security, February 26, 2026.
- White House Statement, Abigail Jackson, February 26, 2026.
- Andrew Arthur, "SCOTUS 'Benchslaps' Recalcitrant Federal District Court Judge," Center for Immigration Studies, July 8, 2025.
- Amy Howe, "Trump administration claims district court defied Supreme Court's order," SCOTUSblog, June 2025.
