SCOTUS grants 26A406 stay; third-country removals resume pending December argument
The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a Boston judgment limiting third-country removals and will hear the case in December. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson would have denied the stay.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the government’s emergency stay in Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D., application 26A406, clearing the way for the Trump administration to resume third-country removals while the justices hear the merits in December. The Court’s public docket shows Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson referred the application to the Full Court after Monday’s opposition and Tuesday’s government reply; the unsigned order stays the February 25, 2026 Massachusetts district court judgment (case 1:25-cv-10676). NPR and NBC News reported the same outcome within minutes of the docket update, noting Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Jackson would have denied the stay.
Third-country removal means sending a noncitizen to a country that is not named in the original removal order — often after a home country refuses return. Immigrant advocates and Judge Brian Murphy’s Boston judgment had required meaningful notice and a chance to raise persecution or torture fears before such a transfer. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices the First Circuit’s late-September dissolve of a prior stay canceled flights and blocked removal of people with criminal convictions; lawyer Trina Realmuto of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance warned clients again face removal without a fair chance to seek protection. The Court treated the stay application as a petition for certiorari, granted review as case No. 26-426, and directed briefing on jurisdiction, classwide APA/declaratory relief under 8 U.S.C. §1252(f)(1), and whether the government’s third-country guidance is lawful under §1231(b), due process, or FARRA/CAT — with argument set for the December 2026 session.
This is the latest chapter in a long emergency-docket fight over the same Boston caption; the justices have paused Murphy’s limits before. Tuesday’s order does not decide the merits — the stay lasts until the Court’s judgment issues. Readers can follow the live docket at supremecourt.gov (26A406 / 26-426) and the NPR and NBC write-ups for plain-language context. Do not confuse this order with older National Guard or South Sudan-only clarification orders; today’s terminal fact is narrow: stay granted, cert granted, December argument, three liberal justices noted in dissent from the stay.
Where outlets agree The Supreme Court docket, NPR, and NBC News agree the justices on Tuesday granted the 26A406 stay, treated the application as a granted cert petition for December argument, and noted three liberal justices would have denied the stay.
Where they differ The administration frames third-country removals as an essential enforcement tool disrupted by canceled flights; immigrant advocates say people again risk being sent abroad without a meaningful chance to raise torture or persecution fears — the December merits argument will test those claims.