SCOTUS Halts Immigration Judges' Free Speech Lawsuit

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with President Trump's administration in a lawsuit over speech restrictions for immigration judges that touched on the rights of federal workers. The justices overturned a lower-court ruling that had allowed the case to proceed and raised questions about whether a complaint system for federal employees is still working as intended after Trump fired some of its top officials, reports the AP. Immigration judges are federal employees, unlike those in federal courtrooms. They want to sue over a policy restricting their public speeches that started during Trump's first term in office and continued under President Biden's administration. The judges argue it is a free speech issue that belongs in federal court.

The Trump administration disagreed, saying the judges must instead take their dispute to the complaint system for federal employees overseen by the Merit Systems Protection Board. The court ruled on procedural grounds, but Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, rebuked the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals for responding to "political controversies of the day." Tuesday's decision comes as the court weighs another lawsuit about Trump's power to fire heads of independent agencies. The outcome is also expected to affect firing power over Merit Systems Protection Board members.

The judges first sued in 2020, and the Supreme Court previously temporarily sided with them on an emergency basis in December 2025. A union said in a statement that the judges were disappointed by the decision, but that the case is "far from over." "Justice cannot endure when judges are intimidated into silence, nor can a nation remain free when the rule of law is subordinate to the whims of political ambition," the National Association of Immigration Judges said. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche applauded the decision, saying it "sends a clear message: lower courts must accept that the law is the law, no matter the 'political controversies of the day,'" he wrote in a social media post.