By suzanne downing 
The Supreme Court on Friday handed the Trump Administration yet another win in its effort to roll back protections for Venezuelan nationals, allowing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to press ahead with ending Temporary Protected Status for the group.
In a short, unsigned order, the justices froze a ruling from US District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2011. Chen had ruled Noem’s move unlawful and said it was rooted in “negative stereotypes.” The Court’s majority said the reasoning it applied in May — when it first cleared the administration to move forward — was still applicable.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, saying they would have left Chen’s order in place. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also dissented, calling the majority’s action “yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket” and arguing that federal courts had repeatedly deemed the administration’s actions unlawful.
TPS allows immigrants from countries in crisis to remain in the US temporarily with work authorization. Venezuela was first designated a TPS nation in 2021 under then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and later extended through October 2026. Noem revoked both the redesignation and extension earlier this year, after which came a wave of litigation.
Friday’s decision does not end the underlying case, but it does restore the administration’s authority to end Venezuelan TPS while the challenge continues.
Suzanne Downing