United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court of the United States (ATRC) is a special court in the United States federal judiciary created to determine whether aliens (non-citizens) may be deported from the United States on the grounds that they are terrorists.^[1] It consists of five Article III judges selected by the Chief Justice of the United States.^[2]

LocationWashington, D.C.

AppealstoDistrict of Columbia Circuit

EstablishedApr. 24, 1996

AuthorityArticle III court

Quick facts Alien Terrorist Removal Court of the United States, Location ...

Alien Terrorist Removal Court of the United States
Location	Washington, D.C.
Appeals to	District of Columbia Circuit
Established	Apr. 24, 1996
Authority	Article III court
Created by	Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 8 U.S.C. §§ 1531–1537
Composition method	Chief Justice appointment
Judges	5
Judge term length	5 years
Chief Judge	Joan N. Ericksen
www.atrc.uscourts.gov

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The Court is modeled after the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and was created by Pub. L. 104–132 (text) (PDF), the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, codified at 8 U.S.C. §§ 1531–1537.

For 30 years after its creation in 1996, the court had "never received an application from the Attorney General for the removal of an alien terrorist, and ha[d] therefore conducted no proceedings."^[3] Legal scholars have speculated that the court was left dormant due to due process concerns about the constitutionality of provisions that allow for the use of secret evidence against deportation targets which they can never examine.^[4][5][6] On July 15, 2026, the Attorney General submitted the court’s first application.^[7]