Credulous Roberts Court Still Pretends To Believe Trump And His DOJ
INSIDE: Abrego Garcia ... Mahmoud Khalil ... JD Vance
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Buckle Up
A potentially big day ahead in the case of the mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Following the Supreme Court order last evening directing the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return from an El Salvadoran prison, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland ordered the Trump administration to file a status update by 9:30 a.m. ET today from an official “with personal knowledge” regarding:
the current physical location and custodial status of Abrego Garcia;
what steps, if any, Defendants have taken to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s immediate return to the United States; and
what additional steps Defendants will take, and when, to facilitate his return.
A short time ago, just before the filing deadline, the Trump DOJ asked for an extension until next Tuesday in a court filing that made little effort to conceal its exasperation with Judge Xinis.
In the meantime, all the parties are due in court at 1 p.m. ET for a status conference that Xinis also called last night. The Trump DOJ asked that to be pushed back until next Wedenday.
As we await Xinis’ response, let’s dive into the Supreme Court order.
The Presumption of Regularity
While the Supreme Court mostly did the right thing in its order last night, it took a helluva long time to get there and still managed to sound like it was pulling teeth to get enough conservative justices on board to form a majority.
The tone of the order was off, leaving it to Justice Sotomayor in her accompanying statement joined by the other two liberal justices to give emotional voice to the outrageousness of the original error in deporting him and in the administration’s non-existent effort to correct its own mistake.
The original deadline for the Trump administration to get moving on the matter was Monday night. The Supreme Court lifted that deadline then took almost three full days to issue its order. Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia has been mistakenly imprisoned in El Salvador since March 15, almost a month now.
The Supreme Court did not spend those three days mustering a full-throated defense of the rule of law or an outraged reprimand of the Trump administration’s slow-rolling of the case. Instead, it issued a strained, tone-deaf order that left open the possibility that some justices might have been content to abandon Abrego Garcia. The order was issued with no noted dissents, but was not labeled unanimous.
The court tossed the Trump administration enough of a bone that Stephen Miller and the Justice Department each managed to trumpet it as a win, a dishonest contention but one the justices brought on themselves.
At base, the Roberts Court continues to treat President Trump and the Justice Department with the traditional levels of deference that have been accorded the chief executive and the government in court. At this point, it requires the embrace of an especially willful blindness to ignore the voluminous examples of that deference being abused for ends that do not serve justice.
For more on the presumption of regularity, some strong on-the-fly analyses by two law professors:
Alan Z. Rozenshtein: What Happens When Courts Can’t Trust the Executive Branch?
Steve Vladeck: Abrego Garcia and the Presumption of Regularity
For a less-anguished assessment of the court’s order last night, I’d suggest Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf.
Mahmoud Khalil’s Fate Could Be Decided Today
An immigration judge in Louisiana could rule as soon as today on whether the government has presented sufficient evidence to deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. Ahead of the deadline to show its evidence, the Trump administration filed a thin, undated letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that confirms he unilaterally revoked Khalil’s legal status on the basis of Khalil’s political beliefs. The Columbia University graduate remains protected from deportation by a federal court order in New Jersey, where he is challenging his detention and potential deportation on First Amendment grounds.
Trump’s Retribution Scheme Comes Into Sharp Focus
NYT: Trump Escalates Use of Official Power to Intimidate and Punish His Perceived Foes
Aaron Blake: Trump crosses the Rubicon on ordering investigations of foes
Philip Bump: Trump moves to legally enforce 2020 election denialism
Trump Threatens Columbia University With Consent Decree
In a Twilight Zone move, the Trump administration is planning to force Columbia University into a consent decree, which would put the Ivy under the kind of federal court supervision you might be familiar with from cases where public school districts resisted integration or police departments were chronic civil rights violators.
Law Firms Rush To Secure Deals With Trump
Among the major law firms scrambling to strike deals with President Trump to avoid being targeted by his punishing executive orders, according to the WSJ:
Latham & Watkins
Simpson Thacher
Kirkland & Ellis
A&O Shearman
In typical Trump fashion, he is lording the deals over the heads of the firms who already caved, describing them as paying “me a lot of money in the form of legal fees,” an inaccurate but telling description of what his strong-arming them accomplished.
Quote Of The Day
Adam Unikowsky, a partner at Jenner & Block, on why law firms should fight the Trump executive orders targeting them instead of striking corrupt bargains with the president:
At core, these settlements reflect an attitude of deep cynicism. Cynicism towards the law firm’s own clients—that they would prefer a law firm that is beholden to the government than one that maintains its ability to provide independent, uncompromised advice. And cynicism towards our justice system—that it is so toothless that the law firm would be better off capitulating than suing even if it prevails. We should be optimistic both about the clients we exist to represent and the justice system we are sworn to uphold.
First Purge Then Install The Loyalists
WaPo: “The Justice Department is building a roster of lawyers willing to defend in court the most controversial parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda, firing career attorneys whom leaders view as standing in their way and hiring dozens of political appointees to carry out the president’s agenda.”
Under My Radar …
I wanted to flag a fews things from this week that I had missed:
A criminal defense lawyer in DC scoffs at acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin and the myriad ways he has made life easer for defense attorneys.
In a new court filing, the Trump DOJ cryptically said it “intends to review the government’s theory of the case underlying [the] conviction” of Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant who lied about the Biden family’s Ukraine ties and was subsequently prosecuted by Special Counsel David Weiss. It appears to be a potential precursor to dropping the case in which Smirnov pleaded guilty.
Trump is trying to quietly wrest control of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by removing Democratic chair Rochelle Garzam, who is fighting the move.
President Trump issued a memorandum Wednesday that tries to retroactively apply the Supreme Court’s historic Loper Bright decision to repeal existing federal regulations without providing advance notice or going through the traditional public input process.
House GOP Passes Trump’s Big Bill
Despite initial difficulties, President Trump was able to cow the far right in the House GOP conference and Republicans passed the centerpiece of his legislative agenda on a 216-214 party line vote.
Retribution: Greenland Edition
This is all so insane.
After Vice President JD Vance’s controversial, saber-rattling trip last week to a U.S. military installation in Greenland, the base’s commander sent a conciliatory email to everyone on base, which included Greenlanders, Danes, and Canadians, Military.com reported.
After that report, the Pentagon removed Col. Susan Meyers as commander of the 821st Space Base Group.
The Pentagon spokesperson tweeted the Military.com story along with the news that Meyers was being removed from command:
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It’s Friday so I’ll limit the negativity I mean reality to the recurring reminder that the trademark of the Roberts court since long before Trump has been to put party before law. Mondays decision gave the sign that there’s at least five votes not to hold Trump to any law (or court order) he doesn’t like.
I could go on but, again, Friday.
Have a good weekend
everyone.