#SCOTUS [shockingly /s] sides with #Trump in fight tied to #speech curbs on #immigration judges
SCOTUS sided on Tuesday with Trump's admin in a dispute involving a #FreeSpeech challenge by federal #ImmigrationJudges to a #US government policy restricting what they can publicly say about immigration.
The justices, in an unsigned ruling, reversed a lower court's decision & returned the case to that court for further proceedings.
#law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt
https://www.reuters.com/world/supreme-court-sides-with-trump-fight-tied-speech-curbs-immigration-judges-2026-05-26/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement
The ruling did not address the legal merits of the #speech restraint, which was enacted during Trump's first term.
The #Trump admin had appealed to #SCOTUS after a lower court ordered findings on whether his firings of the heads of agencies overseeing federal worker complaints had stripped these agencies of the #independence from White House control that #Congress had intended. Such a finding, the lower court said, might entitle the #immigration judges to their day in court.
A group representing the #immigration #judges had also appealed the lower court's determination that the challenge to the #speech restraint belongs before the agencies - so long as they are functional - instead of in court. That appeal was denied Tuesday.
The policy requires #immigration #judges to get prior approval before any "official" speech. Such speaking engagements are those in which a judge "is invited to participate in an event because of their official position, is expected to discuss agency policies, programs or a subject matter that directly relates to their official duties or otherwise appear on behalf of the agency," according to court records.
So this case wasn't about free speech at all, but about judicial process defined by statute. It was a question about where challengers legally take their challenge under the law.
I know that doesn't make for clickable headlines or compelling political rhetoric, but to say it's about free speech is simply inaccurate.
