On April 29, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the authority of the federal government to detain, pending deportation, those aliens ordered deported because they have been convicted of aggravated felonies. The 5-4 decision was a victory for WLF, which had filed a brief urging the Court to hold that alien felons have no constitutional right to be free from detention during the time it takes to complete their deportation. The Court agreed with WLF that the 1996 federal statute requiring detention does not violate due process, because immigration authorities have good reason to believe that any alien felon who is released pending deportation poses a threat to public safety and is likely to flee rather than appear for deportation.