There is much to disassemble here, most of it of little interest to non-attorneys. The ruling was made on the Court's 'emergency docket' is quite unusual because, although they said their ruling was a procedural question of jurisdiction, they did make a substantive ruling regarding the application of habeas corpus in order to bootstrap themselves into making their jurisdictional assertion (i.e. that the detainees need to have their hearings held before a federal judge in TX).

The Court did not rule that Trump's invocation of the AEA (Alien Enemies Act) was legal, constitutional, or appropriate. Nor did they approve of his deportation of detainees without a judicial hearing - a point all of the Justices emphasized.

What is clear is the majority manufactured a way to toss Trump a bone. First, the matter arose before SCOTUS by way of Trump's appeal of a Temporary Restraining Order. A TRO is a ruling by a trial court that a party needs to wait a short while (14 days in this case) before being allowed to proceed with an intended action. Because they are temporary and of short duration, they are only appealable upon if the appealing party can demonstrate irreparable harm if forced to wait until the TRO time runs.

No such showing was made here. Indeed, the hearing on the TRO was scheduled for tomorrow. The majority didn't even pretend to address what irreparable harm the Administration would have suffered Trump by waiting until the TRO ran out.

From a personal standpoint, I am dismayed - and to his shame - that Chief Justice Roberts would toss aside any remaining self respect he may have, by tossing aside long standing legal principles for the purpose of sending Trump the message they are willing to 'tilt the tables and bend the rules in his favor' whenever they can.