The Supreme Court on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 put a Boston federal judge’s ruling on “third-country” deportations on hold and agreed to decide the case itself, with argument set for December. Until then, the government can again deport people with final removal orders to countries that were never named in those orders and that they may have no connection to.
The case began in the U.S. District Court in Boston and went through the First Circuit before landing in Washington. Here is exactly what the Court ordered, from the order itself.
What the Supreme Court ordered
The order appears on the Court’s September 29 order list, in Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D., No. 26-426 (application No. 26A406). It does three things:
- Stay. “The application for stay presented to Justice Jackson and by her referred to the Court is granted. The February 25, 2026 order and judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, case No. 1:25-cv-10676, are stayed.”
- Review. The Court treated the government’s application “as a petition for a writ of certiorari, and the petition is granted.”
- Timing. The Clerk is to set a briefing schedule “that will allow the case to be argued in the December 2026 argument session.” The stay lasts until the Court’s judgment.
“Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson would deny the application for stay.” The order does not give reasons.
The three questions the Court will decide
- “Whether the district court had jurisdiction over Respondents’ claims.”
- “Whether the district court had authority to enter classwide declaratory relief and APA vacatur under 8 U.S.C. §1252(f)(1).”
- “Whether the Government’s Guidance on third-country removals is unlawful under 8 U.S.C. §1231(b), the Due Process Clause, or FARRA/CAT and its implementing regulations.”
The Court also allowed “such other questions that the Government determines are appropriate.”
The order of the questions matters. The first two are about power: whether a federal district court could hear these claims at all, and whether it could issue relief covering a nationwide class, given § 1252(f)(1), a provision of the immigration statute that limits lower courts’ authority to restrain the operation of certain immigration provisions. Only the third question reaches whether the government’s policy is lawful. The Court could decide the case on the first two without ever reaching the third.
How the case got here
As we reported last week, U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy entered a final judgment for a nationwide class on February 25, 2026, in D.V.D. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The class covers people with final removal orders whom the government deports to a country not previously designated. The case challenged a March 2025 DHS memorandum and a July 2025 ICE memorandum on third-country removals, and the core claim was notice: the protections against being sent somewhere a person faces torture or persecution only work if the person knows where they are being sent.
The First Circuit affirmed almost all of the judgment on September 18. The Justice Department filed its emergency application on September 24. The Supreme Court acted five days later. It had stayed an earlier preliminary injunction in the same case in June 2025.
According to WCVB, federal attorneys told the Court the lower-court decision forced the cancellation of a deportation flight carrying about 70 people bound for three countries, and the administration has deported some 25,000 people to more than two dozen countries under these arrangements.
What changes now
- For people with final removal orders: the Boston judgment no longer blocks third-country removals under the government’s guidance while the case is pending.
- For the case: briefing this fall, argument in December, and a decision that would ordinarily come by the end of the Court’s term in mid-2027.
- For Massachusetts: this is one of several cases from the District of Massachusetts to reach the Court on the emergency docket and then on the merits. The jurisdictional questions it presents could affect how much power district courts have in immigration class actions generally.
Frequently asked questions
What did the Supreme Court do in the third-country deportation case?
On September 29, 2026, it stayed Judge Brian Murphy’s February 25, 2026 judgment in D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security, granted review, and scheduled argument for its December 2026 session. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson would have denied the stay.
Can the government deport people to third countries now?
Yes, under its guidance, while the case is pending. The stay lasts until the Supreme Court issues its judgment.
What questions will the Supreme Court decide?
Whether the district court had jurisdiction; whether it could grant classwide declaratory relief and APA vacatur under 8 U.S.C. section 1252(f)(1); and whether the government’s third-country removal guidance violates 8 U.S.C. section 1231(b), due process, or the Convention Against Torture and its regulations.
Where did the D.V.D. case start?
In the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston, No. 1:25-cv-10676, before Judge Brian E. Murphy.
Sources: Supreme Court of the United States, Order List, September 29, 2026, No. 26-426, Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D. (26A406), read at supremecourt.gov. Case history from our September 25, 2026 report, based on the district court judgment and First Circuit decision. WCVB, September 29, 2026 (flight and deportation figures, attributed to federal attorneys and the administration). General information, not legal advice.