NYCLA Leadership Responds to Judge Murphy Finding Administration in Violation of His Anti-Deportation Order

May 22 2025 — New York, New York — New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) Leadership and Rule of Law Task Force issued this statement:

There are news reports that the Administration may have deported eight allegedly undocumented immigrants to South Sudan.  If true, the action may be in violation of a court order preventing the deportation.  Indeed, Federal District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston appears to have so concluded.  The Administration has declined to respond, citing national security, making the facts and circumstances cloudy and uncertain.  It is difficult to see that, if the reports are at all correct, these eight people could have been given the process that the Supreme Court has found all such potential deportees are due.

NYCLA calls on the Administration, and indeed all parties to all lawsuits, to obey all court orders that are issued.  The obligation to obey a court order is one of the most basic foundations of the rule of law.  Anyone who disagrees with an order can take an appeal and/or seek a stay, but in the meantime the order cannot simply be ignored and disregarded.  Otherwise, the power of judicial review, secured under our constitutional system since Marbury v. Madison, cannot effectively exist.  The judiciary is an independent third branch of our federal government, and its decisions and orders must be respected.

About the New York County Lawyers Association
The New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) was founded in 1908 as one of the first major bar association in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion or gender. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence.  For more information on NYCLA please visit nycla.org

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