Justice Samuel Alito has written a sharp dissent that castigates the seven-member majority for blocking the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law.

President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court to roll back its decision to block the deportation of Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador, arguing that the early-morning order was overbroad and premature.

The Supreme Court acted “literally in the middle of the night” and without sufficient explanation in blocking the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under