Trump's Justice Department Awakens a Secret 'Alien Terrorist' Court Dormant Since 1996

WASHINGTON — A secretive federal court that Congress created three decades ago but that had never heard a single case has finally been pressed into service, as the Trump administration filed the first petition in the history of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court.

Established by law in 1996, the court was designed for extraordinary immigration cases in which normal deportation proceedings might expose classified intelligence. It is staffed by a rotating panel of five sitting federal judges and empowered to order the rapid removal of foreign nationals the government designates as "alien terrorists," along with, in some circumstances, their immediate family members. For 30 years, the court sat idle — a piece of statutory machinery that legal experts often cited as a constitutional curiosity rather than a working tribunal.

That changed on July 15, when the Justice Department submitted a single-page application seeking the removal of an individual whose name was withheld from the public docket. The cover sheet marked the contents as classified, and the substance of the government's case remains sealed. The filing offered no public explanation of who the target is, what the person is accused of, or why prosecutors chose this rarely contemplated venue over the ordinary immigration courts.

The court's first assigned judge signaled early skepticism. U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen, an appointee of President George W. Bush, issued an order directing the administration to submit a more "thoughtful" application, an unusual public rebuke suggesting the initial filing fell short of what the statute requires. The exchange underscored how untested the court's procedures are, given that no lawyer, judge, or defendant has ever navigated them before.

Civil liberties advocates reacted with alarm, warning that a proceeding built around sealed evidence and classified allegations offers few of the protections defendants receive in conventional courts. Because much of the case can be shielded from the person being deported, critics argue, the accused may struggle to see or rebut the government's evidence. Supporters counter that Congress deliberately built the court for the narrow set of cases where disclosing intelligence sources in open court could endanger national security.

Legal scholars said the activation is likely to draw immediate constitutional challenges over due process and the government's ability to remove someone — potentially a lawful resident — on secret evidence. Whatever the outcome, the filing marks a significant escalation in the administration's aggressive use of immigration law, dusting off a dormant authority that lawmakers wrote for a different era in the war on terror.