'Holy crap': Trump's DOJ raises experts' eyebrows with 'terrifying' brief in court

Donald Trump's Department of Justice stunned numerous experts on Saturday with a request in a court that some said is without precedent in the U.S.

A judge over the weekend blocked the President's move to invoke war powers to deport individuals the DOJ says are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Trump's administration moved to appeal, but the language and the request at the heart of the appeal raised eyebrows with some experts.

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Chris “Law Dork” Geidner reported the news on social media, writing, "DOJ asks the D.C. Circuit to 'halt' the district court in response to the TRO blocking the Trump administration from immediately deporting 5 men without any process."

"DOJ asks for an 'immediate administrative stay' allowing the deportations," Geidner added.

Part of the appeal stood out to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at American Immigration Council and former immigration lawyer for Immigrant Justice Corps.

"Holy crap," he said on Saturday. "The DOJ is arguing that the President can unilaterally deport anyone he wants without ANY statutory authority, just on his inherent authority as President over national security. That is a terrifying claim to make and has never been recognized before in US history."

Reichlin-Melnick added, "While of course deporting citizens is unlawful, I see nothing specific in the argument that would purport to limit that claim to noncitizens, since it's based on membership in a gang. But this is also a badly written brief with a stupid and unlawful argument at its core."

Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat also flagged the appeal, writing on social media, "Everyone who thought he was joking about being a dictator, are you waking up now?"