The Trump administration and its supporters could still use a refresher on due process. I previously explained why White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller was wrong to suggest the constitutional protection is limited to citizens. Now it appears that Nancy Mace could use that lesson, too.
Amid a series of social media posts apparently intended to be provocative, the Republican U.S. representative from South Carolina wrote Tuesday night, “Due process is for citizens.” The implication being that noncitizens don’t get that protection.
That’s incorrect.
The constitutional amendments that provide for due process apply not only to the narrower category of “citizens” but to the broader category of “person[s].” Indeed, the Republican-majority Supreme Court recently acknowledged this principle. Approvingly quoting from a prior precedent on the matter, it noted, “‘It is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law’ in the context of removal proceedings.”
So while it’s true that due process is for citizens, it’s not limited to citizens. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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