Yes sir, whatever you require sir
The Supreme Court has granted a request by the Trump administration to temporarily block a lower court order requiring that a deported Salvadorian man be returned to the US.
Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to pause a ruling that Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be brought back from El Salvador by midnight on Monday.
The government has said Mr Garcia was deported on 15 March due to an “administrative error”, although they also allege he is a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies.
They admit it was an error but they insist on leaving him there anyway.
US Attorney General Pamela Bondi welcomed Justice Roberts’ stay, and said the administration will “continue to fight this case and protect the executive branch from judicial overreach”.
But it won’t even begin to protect people from executive branch overreach, false arrest, and deportation to a hellish prison.
Last week, US District Judge Paula Xinis, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, grilled the Trump administration’s attorney during a hearing over the deportation.
Justice department lawyer Erez Reuveni told her that Mr Garcia “should not have been removed”.
Over the weekend, Bondi announced Mr Reuveni – a 15-year veteran of the department – had been placed on paid administrative leave for failing to “zealously advocate on behalf of the United States”.
By “zealously advocate on behalf of the United States” she means “repeat the Trump Justice Department’s lies and threats.”
In a scathing opinion released on Sunday, Judge Xinis found that the US government’s error “shocks the conscience”. She said the government had acted “without any lawful authority” and was holding Mr Garcia in “direct contravention” of US law.
The Trump administration escalated the case to a Maryland appeals court, which denied their request to stay Judge Xinis’ order. The Supreme Court then issued its ruling just hours ahead of the deadline to return Mr Garcia by 23:59 EDT on Monday night (03:59 GMT Tuesday).
In other words the Supreme Court is in the can for Trump.
This does raise the question of how many of the others sent to El Salvador might be administrative ‘errors’ but don’t have anybody in the U.S. to fight for them.
It’s truly alarming to see how easily Trump and his administration are riding roughshod over the justice system. In this case alone they’ve openly defied the courts three times. First, a judge told them to not send the deportees out of the country until due process had been run. ‘No can do,’ they said, ‘the plane is already in the air.’ The judge told them to turn the plane around but ‘Nah, we ain’t gonna do that.’ And now they’ve been told to return one man sent by mistake and ‘Nope, you can’t make us do that cuz cuz you ain’t the president.’
Checks and balances.
It’s terrifying.