Good morning, it's Sunday, Sept. 20. A federal appeals court ruled that deporting migrants to countries they've never been to — without a hearing — is unlawful, and the case is headed to the Supreme Court.

Also in today's issue: White House enforces press ban, Solar program ordered back, Handgun ban struck down, Trump Jr.'s Russian wedding bill, Thousands circle Kennedy Center.

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On Friday, a federal appeals court told the government something that shouldn't need saying: you can't put someone on a plane to a country they've never been to without letting them explain why that might get them killed.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals — covering New England — ruled unanimously that the Trump administration's third-country deportation policy is unlawful. Under this program, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been sending migrants not back to their home countries, but to nations they have no connection to. No hearing. No chance to raise fears of being persecuted or tortured. Just a flight to a place they've never been.

Here's the number that should stop you: more than 25,000 people have been deported this way since Trump took office. Many had lived in the U.S. for decades — working, raising kids, paying taxes. And according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, roughly 80 percent of them ended up back in their home countries anyway. That's called chain refoulement — when a third country sends deportees right back to the place ICE was legally barred from returning them to. The policy isn't just skipping due process. It's doing, with an extra step, the thing the law already said the government couldn't do.

Now look — the administration argues it has broad authority over immigration, and that's not nothing. Every modern president has tested executive power on this issue, and courts have often given the White House wide room. But this three-judge panel found something specific: the government gave people no meaningful way to raise safety concerns before deportation. The court also questioned what it called "blanket assurances" from receiving countries — promises that deportees would be treated fairly. Those promises fall apart when the data shows most deportees get sent right back into danger.

The case, D.V.D. v. DHS, is a class-action lawsuit — a case filed on behalf of a large group of people in the same situation. It became a central test of due-process protections, the constitutional guarantee that the government can't take away your liberty without giving you a fair process first. A lower court ruled against the administration in February. The First Circuit largely upheld that decision.

Here's the thing: the ruling doesn't stop anything today. DHS General Counsel James Percival said the policy stays in force because the decision hasn't taken effect yet. The case is widely expected to reach the Supreme Court, which cleared the way for deportations to South Sudan last year in a related dispute. That gave the administration confidence. But this ruling is built on due-process grounds — the kind courts take seriously regardless of the political moment.

The human cost is already locked in. Thousands of people who had built lives here were dropped into countries where they don't speak the language and don't know anyone. Whether the Supreme Court agrees with the First Circuit or not, those 25,000 deportations already happened. And we'll come back to that number at the end of today's issue.

The administration will almost certainly push for Supreme Court review. If the justices take the case, it becomes one of the biggest due-process decisions in a generation — setting the rules for how far any president can go in removing people without a hearing. If they decline, the First Circuit ruling stands, and the policy would need the individual hearings the court says the Constitution requires.

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White House enforces press ban — Reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were turned away from the White House on Saturday after their credentials were confiscated or deactivated. CNN's Betsy Klein held up an empty credential holder on air. MS NOW's Akayla Gardner said a Secret Service officer told her the decision came from "above him." The White House Correspondents' Association called it "a ban on the free press." This follows Trump's Friday announcement on Truth Social banning the outlets for what he called "fake news" — but until Saturday, no formal action had been taken. Three news organizations with a combined audience of tens of millions are now physically barred from the White House seven weeks before midterm elections. CNN said its reporting on the government will continue regardless.

Solar program ordered back — A Trump-appointed federal judge in Rhode Island ruled Friday that the EPA must reinstate the $7 billion Solar for All program, which funds rooftop and community solar for lower-income households. Judge Mary McElroy found the EPA lacked authority to cancel it because Congress intended the already-committed grants to continue — even after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act pulled back unspent money from other programs. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin had called the Biden-era program a "boondoggle." It was designed to reach more than 900,000 lower-income households through 60 local partners nationwide. With electricity bills at or near record highs in many states, the ruling puts billions in clean-energy funding back on the table — at least until the likely appeal.

Interstate handgun ban struck down — The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Friday that the federal ban on buying handguns directly from dealers in other states violates the Second Amendment. The decades-old laws, passed in the late 1960s, required handgun buyers to route purchases through a dealer in their home state. Rifles and shotguns were already exempt. Judge Jerry E. Smith wrote that the right to keep arms "necessarily includes the right to purchase them." The ruling creates a direct split with the Second Circuit, which upheld the same ban last year — meaning the law now applies differently depending on where you live. That kind of conflict between appeals courts almost always sends a case to the Supreme Court.

Trump Jr.'s Russian wedding bill — President Trump said Friday that his son Donald Trump Jr. has repaid Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who funded hundreds of thousands of dollars in wedding celebrations — including a private island rental and fireworks in the Bahamas. Trump called the arrangement "totally allowed" and said his son "didn't do a background check" on Kremlev, who heads the International Boxing Association, a scandal-plagued sports body financed by Russia's state-owned Gazprom, and has close ties to Vladimir Putin. Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, opened an investigation this week. The payments came from an IBA-linked entity in Dubai — raising questions about foreign financial ties to the president's family during an active conflict involving Russia's ally Iran.

Thousands circle Kennedy Center — Thousands of protesters formed a human chain around the Kennedy Center in Washington on Friday night, days after the Trump-installed board voted to close the performing arts venue for repairs lasting up to two years. The rally came after Trump threatened to have the building "ripped down" if he didn't receive "recognition." A federal judge has ordered 30 days' notice before any structural changes, including demolition. Actress Lynda Carter spoke at the event. Trump installed himself as chairman last year, replaced board members, and last December the board renamed the institution in his honor — a decision a judge has since blocked. The center hosts roughly 2,000 performances a year, draws about 2 million visitors, and employs hundreds of staff — all now in limbo.

That's how many migrants have been deported to countries they have no connection to under the administration's third-country removal program — a policy a federal appeals court ruled unlawful on Friday. Many had lived in the United States for decades.

P.S. Should third-country deportation require a hearing? Hit Reply — one word is enough.