The ACLU initially filed suit in the nation’s capital to block deportations. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued a temporary hold on removals and ordered the administration turn around planes that had left with detainees headed to El Salvador, a directive that was apparently ignored. Later, the Supreme Court weighed in.

The Trump administration, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr., ruled, does not "possess the lawful authority under the (Alien Enemies Act), and based on the Proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens,

The ruling was the first time a judge weighed in on the merits of Trump's invocation of the wartime authority granted in 1798.