Justice Department Files First Application to Alien Terrorist Removal Court

The Department of Justice filed its first application to the Alien Terrorist Removal Court on July 15. The submission arrived with little public notice, and its contents remain sealed under a cover sheet that marks the material as classified. U.S.

District Judge Joan Ericksen, chief judge of the court and a George W. Bush appointee, held a closed hearing on the matter Thursday. She ordered the department to file a revised application by Wednesday.

“The government could benefit from the opportunity for more thoughtful consideration,” Ericksen wrote in a one-page order. She noted lingering questions about the conduct attributed to the department’s target and how that conduct meets the statutory criteria for removing an alien terrorist. Congress established the court in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

The statute authorizes the chief justice to appoint five U.S. district judges, each from a different circuit, to review applications that seek removal of noncitizens accused of terrorism-related activity. Any application must receive approval from the acting attorney general, in this case Todd Blanche.