Looking for help with today's NYT Strands puzzle? Here's an extra hint to help you uncover the right words, as well as all of today's answers and Spangram.

As hackers turn their attention from Windows to iOS and macOS, beware these new Apple ID attacksheres what you need to know.

Wiim will soon update its Alexa-capable voice remote and the new model looks like a clone of the Siri voice remote that ships with every Apple TV 4K streaming device.Wiim calls it the Voice Remote 2, and I caught a glimpse of it while attending a Wiim product briefing in Markham, Ontario. Officially, it doesnt launch until April 8, which is when well know the price and details like battery life. On that day, youll be able to find it on Wiims website (and likely on Amazon too). For now, however, these photos will have to suffice.Simon Cohen / Digital TrendsWiim has already proven that it has a major crush on Apples industrial design. The Wiim Amp, Amp Pro, Ultra, and newly launched Vibelink Amp all feature rounded-corner, aluminum enclosures that strongly evoke the Apple Mac Mini. In some cases, these products are available in Apples two favorite aluminum colors: silver and space grey.Simon Cohen / Digital TrendsBut these products feel like a tribute to Apples pioneering design work, as opposed to the new Voice Remote 2, which crosses over into unadulterated copy-cat territory.Recommended VideosThe material, the proportions, the size, shape, and layout of the buttons theyre all virtually identical. So too is the size and position of the voice button, which even sports the same microphone icon. Even the dark plastic window that sits on the front edge has been copied an especially strange choice given that this is where Apple has placed its IR emitter. If the Voice Remote 2 matches the features of the original Wiim voice remote, it doesnt use IR at all.RelatedAnd though the Voice Remote 2s power button sits on the opposite corner to Apples remote, the USB-C charging port area is another element that seems as though it came straight from Cupertino.Here are some pics I took with a Siri Remote so you can see the similarities.It will be interesting to see if theres an official reaction (legal or otherwise) from Apple.If youre a Wiim fan, 2025 is going to be a helluva year. I cant share any details yet, but my briefing left me stunned by what Wiims got planned. I promise theres going to be a lot to talk about.Editors Recommendations

This is only a test First tokamak component installed in a commercial fusion plant A tokamak moves forward as two companies advance plans for stellarators. John Timmer Apr 1, 2025 5:05 pm | 13 Credit: Commonwealth Fusion Credit: Commonwealth Fusion Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThere are a remarkable number of commercial fusion power startups, considering that it's a technology that's built a reputation for being perpetually beyond the horizon. Many of them focus on radically new technologies for heating and compressing plasmas, or fusing unusual combinations of isotopes. These technologies are often difficult to evaluatethey can clearly generate hot plasmas, but it's tough to determine whether they can get hot enough, often enough to produce usable amounts of power.On the other end of the spectrum are a handful of companies that are trying to commercialize designs that have been extensively studied in the academic world. And there have been some interesting signs of progress here. Recently, Commonwealth Fusion, which is building a demonstration tokamak in Massachussets, started construction of the cooling system that will keep its magnets superconducting. And two companies that are hoping to build a stellarator did some important validation of their concepts.Doing donutsA tokamak is a donut-shaped fusion chamber that relies on intense magnetic fields to compress and control the plasma within it. A number of tokamaks have been built over the years, but the big one that is expected to produce more energy than required to run it, ITER, has faced many delays and now isn't expected to achieve its potential until the 2040s. Back in 2015, however, some physicists calculated that high-temperature superconductors would allow ITER-style performance in a far smaller and easier-to-build package. That idea was commercialized as Commonwealth Fusion.The company is currently trying to build an ITER equivalent: a tokamak that can achieve fusion but isn't large enough and lacks some critical hardware needed to generate electricity from that reaction. The planned facility, SPARC, is already in progress, with most of the supporting facility in place and superconducting magnets being constructed. But in late March, the company took a major step by installing the first component of the tokamak itself, the cryostat base, which will support the hardware that keeps its magnets cool.Alex Creely, Commonwealth Fusion's tokamak operations director and SPARC's chief engineer, told Ars that the cryostat's materials have to be chosen to be capable of handling temperatures in the area of 20 Kelvin, and be able to tolerate neutron exposure. Fortunately, stainless steel is still up to the task. It will also be part of a structure that has to handle an extreme temperature gradient. Creely said that it only takes about 30 centimeters to go from the hundreds of millions of degrees C of the plasma down to about 1,000 C, after which it becomes relatively simple to reach cryostat temperatures.He said that construction is expected to wrap up about a year from now, after which there will be about a year of commissioning the hardware, with fusion experiments planned for 2027. And, while ITER may be facing ongoing delays, Creely said that it was critical for keeping Commonwealth on a tight schedule. Not only is most of the physics of SPARC the same as that of ITER, but some of the hardware will be as well. "We've learned a lot from their supply chain development," Creely said. "So some of the same vendors that are supplying components for the ITER tokamak, we are also working with those same vendors, which has been great."Great in the sense that Commonwealth is now on track to see plasma well in advance of ITER. "Seeing all of this go from a bunch of sketches or boxes on slidesclip art effectivelyto real metal and concrete that's all coming together," Creely said. "You're transitioning from building the facility, building the plant around the tokamak to actually starting to build the tokamak itself. That is an awesome milestone."Seeing stars?The plasma inside a tokamak is dynamic, meaning that it requires a lot of magnetic intervention to keep it stable, and fusion comes in pulses. There's an alternative approach called a stellarator, which produces an extremely complex magnetic field that can support a simpler, stable plasma and steady fusion. As implemented by the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Germany, this meant a series of complex-shaped magnets manufactured with extremely low tolerance for deviation. But a couple of companies have decided they're up for the challenge.One of those, Type One Energy, has basically reached the stage that launched Commonwealth Fusion: It has made a detailed case for the physics underlying its stellarator design. In this instance, the case may even be considerably more detailed: six peer-reviewed articles in the Journal of Plasma Physics. The papers detail the structural design, the behavior of the plasma within it, handling of the helium produced by fusion, generation of tritium from the neutrons produced, and obtaining heat from the whole thing.The company is partnering with Oak Ridge National Lab and the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a demonstration reactor on the site of a former fossil fuel power plant. (It's also cooperating with Commonwealth on magnet development.) As with the SPARC tokamak, this will be a mix of technology demonstration and learning experience, rather than a functioning power plant.Another company that's pursuing a stellarator design is called Thea Energy. Brian Berzin, its CEO, told Ars that the company's focus is on simplifying the geometry of the magnets needed for a stellarator and is using software to get them to produce an equivalent magnetic field. "The complexity of this device has always been really, really limiting," he said, referring to the stellarator. "That's what we're really focused on: How can you make simpler hardware? Our way of allowing for simpler hardware is using really, really complicated software, which is something that has taken over the world."He said that the simplicity of the hardware will be helpful for an operational power plant, since it allows them to build multiple identical segments as spares, so things can be swapped out and replaced when maintenance is needed.Like Commonwealth Fusion, Thea Energy is using high-temperature superconductors to build its magnets, with a flat array of smaller magnets substituting for the three-dimensional magnets used at Wendelstein. "We are able to really precisely recreate those magnetic fields required for accelerator, but without any wiggly, complicated, precise, expensive, costly, time-consuming hardware," Berzin said. And the company recently released a preprint of some testing with the magnet array.Thea is also planning on building a test stellarator. In its case, however, it's going to be using deuterium-deuterium fusion, which is much less efficient than deuterium-tritium that will be needed for a power plant. But Berzin said that the design will incorporate a layer of lithium that will form tritium when bombarded by neutrons from the stellarator. If things go according to plan, the reactor will validate Thea's design and be a fuel source for the rest of the industry.Of course, nobody will operate a fusion power plant until sometime in the next decadeprobably about at the same time that we might expect some of the first small modular fission plants to be built. Given the vast expansion in renewable production that is in progress, it's difficult to predict what the energy market will look like at that point. So, these test reactors will be built in a very uncertain environment. But that uncertainty hasn't stopped these companies from pursuing fusion.John TimmerSenior Science EditorJohn TimmerSenior Science Editor John is Ars Technica's science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots. 13 Comments

Anything can happen What were expecting from Nintendos Switch 2 announcement Wednesday We take some wild stabs ahead of the big "Nintendo Direct" presentation. Kyle Orland Apr 1, 2025 4:12 pm | 8 Credit: Nintendo Credit: Nintendo Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreWith its planned Switch 2 Direct presentation scheduled for Wednesday morning, Nintendo is set to finally fully pull back the curtain on a console we've been speculating about for years now. We'll have plenty of reporting and analysis of whatever Nintendo announces in the days to come. In the meantime, though, we thought it would be fun to put down a marker on some of the key announcements we expect Nintendo to make tomorrow.Rather than limiting ourselves to a single prediction, though, we've broken things down into increasingly outlandish categories of "Likely," "Possible," and "Implausible." Consider this an exercise in expectation-setting for one of the most important moments in Nintendo's recent history, and be sure to let us know what you think will happen in the comments section below.Price Yen per US dollar, charted. Credit: MacroTrends Yen per US dollar, charted. Credit: MacroTrends Likely: A $399 MSRP would reflect some of the eight years of inflation-related erosion that Nintendo has seen in the (seemingly unmovable) $299 price of the original Switch. That price point would also put the Switch 2 at rough parity with the market-proven price point of the (older, non-portable) Xbox Series X and PS5.Possible: Nintendo could surprise everyone and launch the Switch 2 at the same $299 price point that the Switch has enjoyed since 2017. Such a move, paired with the first-ever price drop for the original Switch, would supercharge interest in the new console and likely make initial Switch 2 supplies that much harder to find on store shelves.Implausible: A price of $449 or more would be pretty out of character for Nintendo, which tends to launch its consoles at the lower end of the prevailing price distribution.Release date It's beginning to look a lot like a holiday launch. Credit: Aurich Lawson It's beginning to look a lot like a holiday launch. Credit: Aurich Lawson Likely: Back in 2017, there were two months between Nintendo's wider reveal of the Switch in January 2017 and that console's launch in March 2017. The same pattern would point to a June launch for the Switch 2, timing that also lines up with the conclusion of Nintendo's currently scheduled Switch 2 hands-on experiences.Possible: Nintendo might push the Switch 2 launch to the 2025 holiday season in order to give its developers and third-party partners a little more time to work on games (and manufacturing partners a little more time to make hardware). That later launch would still capture the all-important end-of-year sales period, which represents a good chunk of all game industry sales most years.Implausible: Nintendo could try to end its Direct presentation by surprise-announcing a launch right now (or within a few days), just as Sega tried to do with the ill-fated E3 debut of the Saturn in 1995. But such a shocking move would be even tougher to pull off in today's tightly integrated online media and retail market and would give Nintendo precious little time to build the launch-day marketing juggernaut it likely wants.Launch games It has taken nearly 8 years. What's another few months for the galaxy's top bounty hunter? Credit: Nintendo It has taken nearly 8 years. What's another few months for the galaxy's top bounty hunter? Credit: Nintendo Likely: A new Mario Kart was already shown briefly during Nintendo's Switch 2 teaser in January, and the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4 seems increasingly likely to launch, at least with an enhanced Switch 2 "Edition" alongside a scaled-down original Switch version. A new 3D Mario title also seems likely for the Switch 2 launch, given Nintendo's on-and-off tradition of launching new hardware with Mario games (and how long it has been since 2017's incredibly popular Super Mario Odyssey).Possible: Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the surprise Switch hit of the early pandemic lockdowns. A new Animal Crossing game would be a good way to draw some of those lapsed Switch players back for a new, more powerful Switch 2.Implausible: Long-suffering Earthbound fans have been hoping for a new game in the series (or even an official localization of the Japan-exclusive Mother 3) for literal decades now. Personally, though, I'm hoping for a surprise revisit to the Punch-Out series, following on its similar surprise return on the Wii in 2009.Screen This compressed screenshot of a compressed video is by no means the resolution of the Switch 2 screen, but it's going to be higher than the original Switch. Credit: Nintendo This compressed screenshot of a compressed video is by no means the resolution of the Switch 2 screen, but it's going to be higher than the original Switch. Credit: Nintendo Likely: While a 720p screen was pretty nice in a 2017 gaming handheld, a full 1080p display is much more standard in today's high-end gaming portables. We expect Nintendo will follow this trend for what looks to be a nearly 8-inch screen on the Switch 2.Possible: While a brighter OLED screen would be nice as a standard feature on the Switch 2, we expect Nintendo will follow the precedent of the Switch generation and offer this as a pricier upgrade at some point in the future.Implausible: The Switch 2 would be the perfect time for Nintendo to revisit the glasses-free stereoscopic 3D that we all thought was such a revelation on the 3DS all those years ago.C Button C-ing is believing. Credit: Nintendo C-ing is believing. Credit: Nintendo Likely: The mysterious new button labeled "C" on the Switch 2's right Joy-Con could serve as a handy way to "connect" to other players, perhaps through a new Miiverse-style social network.Possible: Recent rumors suggest the C button could be used to connect to a second Switch console (or the TV-connected dock) for a true dual-screen experience. That would be especially fun and useful for Wii U/DS emulation and remasters.Implausible: The C stands for Chibi-Robo! and launches a system-level mini-game focused on the miniature robot.New featuresLikely: After forcing players to use a wonky smartphone app for voice chat on the Switch, we wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo finally implements full on-device voice chat for online games on the Switch 2at least between confirmed "friends" on the system.Possible: Some sort of system-level achievement tracking would bring Nintendo's new console in line with a feature that the competition from Sony and Microsoft has had for decades now.Implausible: After killing it off for the Switch generation, we'd love it if Nintendo brought back the Virtual Console as a way to buy permanent downloadable copies of emulated classics that will carry over across generations. Failing that, how about a revival of the 3DS's StreetPass passive social network for Switch 2 gamers on the go?Kyle OrlandSenior Gaming EditorKyle OrlandSenior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper. 8 Comments

There is a form of nothingness even more empty than the vacuum of spacePanther Media GmbH / AlamyThe following is an extract from our Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Each month, we hand over the keyboard to a physicist or mathematician to tell you about fascinating ideas from their corner of the universe. You cansign up for Lost in Space-Time here.Most of us complain about nothing from time to time. Like when you open the fridge, see the empty shelves, and sigh, Theres nothing to eat even though theres a half-eaten yogurt and some suspicious

NASA funding cuts are already affecting research and educational programs across the USDCStockPhotography/ShutterstockNASA has cancelled contracts and grants worth up to $420 million, following guidance from the Trump administrations Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The cuts will impact research projects and educational programmes across the US, but NASA is being tight-lipped about confirming exactly which organisations are affected.After DOGE, an independent task force led in effect by tech billionaire Elon Musk, announced the cuts, NASA confirmed the amount but refused to specify which programmes were cancelled. Casey Dreier at The Planetary Society, a non-profit organisation based in California, compiled a list of programmes that recently lost funding using the agencys public grant database. NASA has since taken down the database and did not respond to questions about the lists accuracy. AdvertisementMany of the cuts on Dreiers list align with President Donald Trumps scepticism towards climate science and his administrations aggressive targeting of its interpretation of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes.Climate-related cancellations include a project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that uses satellite sensors to map the impacts of extreme heat, air pollution and flooding on prisons. Another target was University of Oklahoma research to develop digital twin simulations that predict the effects of floods on tribal lands.But it is unclear why NASA ended support for other research, such as using bioengineered cells to examine how spaceflight affects the human body or modelling how lunar dust could contaminate future moon missions.Voyage across the galaxy and beyond with our space newsletter every month.Sign up to newsletterNASA spokesperson Bethany Stephens told New Scientist that the agency is optimising its workforce and resources in alignment with the Department of Government Efficiencys initiatives. DOGE has pushed agencies across the US government to slash funding or shut down altogether.But cancellations of ongoing grants and contracts fly in the face of the rigorous review process that selected them in the first place as the most scientifically deserving proposals, says Michael Battalio at Yale University. Politics cannot and should not define what is scientifically worth studying at the level of individual grants, says Battalio, who studies the atmospheres of Mars and Titan in preparation for future missions.The DEI-related cuts disturb me the most, says Bruce Jakosky at the University of Colorado Boulder, who was the lead scientist on NASAs MAVEN mission to Mars. Those grants are about reaching out to underrepresented groups and ensuring that people have access to training and education none of them appear to be about promoting less qualified people over more qualified people.For instance, NASA cut funding for a conference hosted by the National Society of Black Physicists, a long-standing non-profit organisation that promotes the professional well-being of African American physicists and physics students. We were told that the reason for cancelling the contract was to comply with the executive order from the president concerning DEI, says Stephen Roberson, president of the National Society of Black Physicists. We are looking to appeal this decision and receive further clarification on why our annual conference where people of all races and academiclevels present their scientific work is considered DEI.New Scientist reached out to researchers and organisations that appear to have been affected, but with the exception of the National Society of Black Physicists, most did not respond. The San Diego Air & Space Museum, which appeared on Dreiers list, said its NASA funding for educational events seems to still be intact despite NASAs database showing a change in the grant end date. NASA did not respond to a request to confirm the status of this funding.Topics:

The author's daughter (not pictured) spent time in the NICU. Image taken by Mayte Torres/Getty Images 2025-04-01T22:45:02Z SaveSaved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? My newborn daughter had a traumatic ICU experience.The immediate outpouring of support from family and friends got us through. A care package from a former high school acquaintance provided immense comfort.My daughter was two days old when she was hospitalized with bacterial sepsis. The blinking monitors and beeping machines of the ICU felt like the soundtrack to my worst nightmare. Every hour seemed to pass in a painful haze of I.V.s, seizure medications, and bad news.When I could muster the energy, I turned to Facebook, posting small pieces of our daughter's journey and asking for prayers and encouragement.Not wanting to leave our medically fragile child alone, my husband and I spent the nights sharing a cramped window seat as a makeshift bed or slumped over on the room's solo hardback chair. We had arrived at the hospital by ambulance empty-handed and frazzled, yet our community had immediately and graciously stepped up to help us.Everyone supported usMy sister and her husband cared for our older child. My mom packed a suitcase with our clothes and toiletries and brought it to us. Friends delivered homemade meals, baked goods, additional clothes, and even fresh-squeezed juices that were gentlest on my stressed stomach. I'd never been more grateful for our friends and family. Seven years later, I still remember the minutest gifts and acts of service that sustained us in those dark hours.However, one of the most generous offerings came from outside that close circle, and its unexpected thoughtfulness continues to amaze me.A week into our hospital stay, I received a care basket from someone whose name was vaguely familiar. Where did I know her from? I repeated it several times before it hit me an old high school friend I hadn't spoken to in 11 years. And yet, more than a decade later, she'd taken the time to drive probably half an hour to an hour from home to deliver a care basket for my family and me. The generosity overwhelmed me.Inside the basket, I found an inspirational, hardback journal, fuzzy socks, sweetly scented soaps, snacks, and other sweet offerings that spoke to her own experience as a mom of a sick child. In the card, she shared how her daughter battled cancer and how the things inside this basket were the things she felt she would have benefited from having during her long, difficult hospital stays, including the socks for the cold, sterile floors.The generosity moved me It's one of the most moving examples of generosity I've ever experienced, and to this day, the memory floods me with gratitudeMy daughter made a full, miraculous recovery. She is a healthy, strong 7-year-old it's easy to forget she was ever on the cusp of death because her life's so full of vitality. But I never want to forget what that care basket and other gifts, meals, and thoughtful gestures meant to my family. They are why I am convinced it's important to always show up for others facing hard circumstances.Since my own experience in the hospital, I have tried to pay it forward to other families in crisis by delivering meals, offering a listening ear, or sending a care package of my own. Because I know, from the deepest part of my heart, that in the darkest hour, even the smallest act of kindness brings hope.Recommended video

The principal investment bankers of Digital Offering, an independent firm that advised Newsmax in its public offering. Form left: Mike Boswell, Gordon McBean, Mark Elenowitz. Courtesy of Digital Offering, LLC 2025-04-01T22:25:22Z SaveSaved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Conservative television network Newsmax has seen its stock skyrocket since going public on Monday.The investment bank that handled the public offering is a little-known firm called Digital Offering.A Digital Offering exec explains how the firm won the deal.Newmax's stock debut may be the talk of Wall Street, but the investment bank behind the deal is not normally associated with the sector's splashiest IPOs.Rather than using a large advisory firm like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, Newsmax tapped a relatively obscure advisor: Laguna Beach, California-based Digital Offering LLC, which has just 10 full-time registered bankers, three of whom act as principal investment bankers. The stock debut has helped put the bank on the map and is already driving new business to the firm, said Mark Elenowitz, a managing director at the firm, based in New York."It's huge for us," Elenowitz told Business Insider in an interview. "The small-cap community knows who we are, but the rest of Wall Street didn't."Digital Offering advises companies valued at $1 billion or less what's considered small potatoes for some bulge-bracket shops. The bank also specializes in the unconventional method Newsmax used to sell its stock to the public for the first time.Rather than hire a bunch of banks to underwrite the IPO and sell the stocks to large investors in a roadshow, Newsmax relied on a lower-cost, less onerous form of a public offering termed Regulation A+, a provision of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in 2012.The conservative news station raised $75 million selling 7.5 million shares at $10 each through this process, sometimes called the "mini IPO." Despite Newsmax losing $72 million in 2024, the stock shot up 735% on its first day of trading and another 180% on Tuesday to close up over 1,200% for the week at $233.It could lead to a surge in demand for this type of offering and more business for firms like Digital Offering. Elenowitz said some mid-cap investment bank advisory firms have already reached out in recent days to express their desire to partner on public offerings structured similarly to Newsmax."They want us to help them," he said of this type of stock offering.Working with NewsmaxThe bank's relationship with Newsmax began in August 2023, Elenowitz recounted. At first, Digital Offering helped Newsmax raise $225 million in capital from accredited investors.Newsmax wasn't aware of the Regulation A+ method for taking a company public, and Digital Offering was able to enumerate its vision. "We felt that it would really create visibility for the company beyond just raising money, but actually creating visibility for the brand," he said.Elenowitz spearheaded the Newsmax transaction alongside Gordon McBean, the bank's cofounder and chairman and a veteran of Lehman Brothers and Wells Fargo; and Mike Boswell, an MD who also has business interests in the defense sector and blockchain technology.Digital Offering saw Newsmax as the right candidate for a Regulation A+ offering because of its consumer appeal. Whereas a traditional IPO prioritizes large institutional investors, a Reg A offering lets companies raise money from accredited and non-accredited investors, including mom-and-pop retail investors."Instead of buying, as an institution, a million dollars and really being concerned, these are investors that are buying $500, $1000" worth of equity, "which gives management the time to stop worrying about their stock price and focus on growth their business."The past 48 hours have been a rush for Elenowitz. The phones have been ringing off the hook, he and his team rejoiced over a celebratory dinner, and he and his wife are departing to Paris this weekend.He said the highlight was ringing the trading bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. An exchange official handed Elenowitz a sheet of paper shortly after 10:51 a.m. that read, "Opening trade: 244,778 shares at $14.""That, to me," he said, "was a historic moment."Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at ralexander@businessinsider.com, or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.Recommended video

In mid-March, President Donald Trump invoked an almost-never-used federal law, claiming that it gives him the power to deport many immigrants at will with minimal or no legal process to determine if these deportations are lawful. The text of that statute, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, does not give presidents the power Trump claims.For the moment, at least, a lower court order blocks Trumps Alien Enemies Act proclamation; that order is still in effect, although there is ongoing litigation about whether the Trump administration defied it by sending dozens of Venezuelan immigrants to a prison in El Salvador after the lower court ordered the planes carrying these immigrants to be turned around.Now Trump wants the Supreme Court to halt the lower court order and effectively allow him to resume deportations without any meaningful review, and without having to prove the immigrants targeted by his proclamation have actually done anything wrong. The case, which is known as Trump v. J.G.G., is before the Court on its shadow docket, a mix of emergency motions and other matters which the justices often decide after only cursory review of the case. A decision on the case could come any time in the next few weeks.In J.G.G., Trumps lawyers make three arguments that, when combined, would give him virtually unchecked authority to remove any noncitizen from the United States. First, Trump claims the unprecedented authority to invoke the Alien Enemies Act during peacetime, and against a nonstate actor in this case, Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang that originated in Venezuela. That law, which does give the president sweeping authority to remove foreign nationals when properly invoked, only applies during a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or during a military invasion or predatory incursion of the United States.Congress the only branch of government that can declare war has not declared war on Venezuela, and the alleged presence of civilian criminals in the United States is not a military operation. Also, the Alien Enemies Act only applies to military actions by a foreign nation or government. Tren de Aragua is not its own nation, nor does it control the government of Venezuela.Second, Trumps lawyers argue that the immigrants challenging his proclamation may only bring their case in Texas federal court, under a legal procedure known as a habeas proceeding, which typically can only be used by a single individual to challenge their own detention. That matters for two reasons. Federal cases brought in Texas appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a far-right court that routinely interprets the law in creative ways to benefit right-wing causes and the Republican Party, something likely to put anyone trying to stop a deportation at a disadvantage. Additionally, if challenges can only be brought on an individual basis, it may no longer be possible to obtain a broad court order blocking his entire proclamation.Third, even if an immigrant targeted by Trump could convince the Fifth Circuit to shield them from deportation, they are unlikely to ever get that chance. As Judge Patricia Millett, one of four lower court judges whos already heard the J.G.G. case, explains, the administrations position is that once Trumps proclamation goes into effect it can immediately resume removal flights without affording Plaintiffs notice of the grounds for their removal or any opportunity to call a lawyer, let alone to file a writ of habeas corpus or obtain any review of their legal challenges to removal.RelatedThe Trumpiest court in AmericaIf the Court were to accept this third argument, Trump would be able to deport people so quickly that, by the time a lawyer or judge learns they were deported, it will be too late to do anything about it.Trumps peacetime invocation of the Alien Enemies Act is illegalThe Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked three times in American history: during the War of 1812 and during both world wars. In all three instances, Congress had formally declared war.Its likely that presidents have been reluctant to use this power in the past, even during other wars, because the authority provided by the Alien Enemies Act is extraordinarily draconian. When properly invoked, the law permits the federal government to arrest, detain, and remove all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being of the age of fourteen years and upward, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized. So during a declared war with Germany, the president may order nearly all German citizens removed from the United States, regardless of whether those German nationals took any aggressive or criminal action whatsoever.Trump now claims that he can use this law during peacetime to target alleged members of Tren de Aragua.Even setting aside the fact that the Alien Enemies Act only applies to foreign nations or governments and Tren de Aragua is neither there appears to be no legal authority whatsoever supporting Trumps claim that this law can be used against a foreign gang engaged in ordinary criminal activity. In its brief to the justices, the Trump administration claims that Tren de Araguas alleged presence in the United States constitutes a predatory incursion under the Alien Enemies Act. But the only source Trumps lawyers cite to support this claim is a 1945 trial court decision that quotes President John Tyler (who became president in 1841) using the term predatory incursion to refer to military raids during a war between Mexico and the then-Republic of Texas.So this 1945 opinion offers no support for the proportion that a predatory incursion can be committed by civilians during peacetime. And, in any event, its notable that the only legal source Trumps lawyers could come up with is an 80-year-old decision by a single, low-ranking judge.The J.G.G. plaintiffs brief, by contrast, quotes from numerous founding era dictionaries and other historical documents that use this term exclusively to refer to a military raid, including a letter from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, which used predatory incursion to refer to a British raid on American military supplies in Virginia.Trumps proclamation, in other words, relies on a wholly novel interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act, one that posits it can be used in peacetime, despite what the text of the law says. And his lawyers did not find any support whatsoever for this new interpretation in over 200 years of American legal history.Trumps attempts to cut off judicial review are also meritlessPerhaps recognizing that its interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act is unprecedented, the Trump administration spends the bulk of its J.G.G. brief raising procedural objections to the lower courts order blocking Trumps proclamation, particularly its claim that this proclamation can only be challenged in habeas proceedings in Texas.Habeas proceedings typically must be brought in the jurisdiction where the prisoner is held. The Trump administration incarcerated the J.G.G. plaintiffs in Texas, so it claims that their suits must be brought in Texas federal court.However, habeas proceedings are a way often the only way for someone in federal prison to challenge their detention. And the plaintiffs in J.G.G. do not challenge the governments ability to detain them while a valid removal case against them proceeds. They simply challenge the Trump administrations attempt to remove them without due process under the Alien Enemies Act. And the Supreme Court has held that habeas is not the right remedy when a plaintiff does not challenge their detention.As the Court said in Skinner v. Switzer (2011), there is no case in which the Court has recognized habeas as the sole remedy, or even an available one, where the relief sought would neither terminat[e] custody, accelerat[e] the future date of release from custody, nor reduc[e] the level of custody.That decision means Trumps attempt to shunt any challenge to his proclamation into individual legal proceedings, where the individuals bringing those proceedings can be deported before they can even speak to their lawyers, should have no merit. If one of the J.G.G. plaintiffs also want to challenge their detention, that case may need to be brought in Texas, but the Trump administrations attempt to shut down a broader challenge to the Alien Enemies Act proclamation cannot be squared with Supreme Court precedent.Additionally, a different federal immigration law cuts against Trumps claim that immigrants challenging the Alien Enemies Act proclamation must be brought in individual habeas suits. The Immigration and Nationality Act generally provides that it lays out the sole and exclusive procedure for determining whether an alien may be removed from the United States. This law, moreover, gives immigrants a variety of procedural rights, such as the right to claim asylum. It does permit expedited proceedings against some immigrants, including those that commit serious felonies, but even those noncitizens are entitled to notice and a hearing before they are removed from the country. And this law undercuts the administrations argument that it can summarily deport people.Of course, any legal analysis of any Supreme Court case involving Trump must come with a caveat. This is the same Court that ruled over the summer that Trump can use the powers of the presidency to commit crimes, so there is no guarantee that these justices will follow existing law.Nevertheless, the law as it is understood now is quite clear that Trump cannot use the Alien Enemies Act to cut off due process for immigrants during peacetime.See More: