Showdown Over Interim US Attorneys Brewing In Seattle
INSIDE: John McKay ... Kash Patel ... Abrego Garcia
Greetings from Nashville
It’s 4 a.m. as I begin to write here in Nashville, where I’m jamming out Morning Memo before heading over to the new federal courthouse for the vindictive prosecution hearing in the Abrego Garcia case.
A special shoutout to The Hitchcock, a brand new bar about a block from the courthouse that kept Morning Memo well lubricated upon arrival in Nashville last night. Ask for Justin. He’ll take good care of you.
Before I jump into the news, a quick reminder of the special promotion we’re running for Morning Memo readers who aren’t TPM members: 40% off an annual TPM membership. We’re gearing up for TPM’s annual membership drive, which kicks off next week, and this pre-offer is a great deal that I hope will lure you into officially joining the TPM community.
Keep an Eye on Seattle
The all-Biden-appointed federal district court in Seattle may be where the Trump administration’s fight to keep judges from appointing interim U.S. attorneys comes to a head, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
Some alum of the Seattle U.S. Attorney’s Office are leading a charge for the judges there to pick an interim U.S. attorney who is willing to sue when the Trump DOJ purports to fire them, as it’s already done to judge-appointed interim U.S. attorneys in the Northern District of New York and the Eastern District of Virginia.
The Western District of Washington’s U.S. Attorney’s Office is currently without a U.S. attorney, after the judges there declined to extend the initial 120-day term of Charles Neil Floyd, who is now running the office as the designated first assistant.
The Bloomberg piece does a good job of describing why — beyond faintness of heart or the complex legal questions involved – judges so far haven’t challenged the firings. It’s practical. For obvious reasons, finding a candidate willing to put their legal careers on hold to fight it out with the Trump administration isn’t easy:
Former US attorneys said a surefire public firing shrinks the candidate pool for a traditionally highly coveted job. That leaves retirees, law professors, or people in small law practices nearing the end of their careers as the more likely contenders. Finding someone willing to take up a legal dispute with the Trump administration further narrows the list.
Plus, even if you win, where does that leave you?
“It would probably only be worth the battle as a matter of principle,” said Mark Yancey, a former acting US attorney in Oklahoma City who led DOJ’s training academy for prosecutors. “But even if you win that battle, have you lost the war if you’re in office and have an unsupportive department who could make your life miserable?”
Among the reported contenders for the role who arguably fits the criteria for someone willing to challenge their presumptive firing: John McKay, the former U.S. attorney and TPM fave who was … wait for it … famously fired by the Bush II administration in the now-quaint U.S. attorneys scandal where TPM made an early mark. McKay declined to comment to Bloomberg.
The Retribution: Kash Patel CYA Edition
In hot water for his use of the FBI jet and last weekend’s junket to the Winter Olympics in Italy, FBI Director Kash Patel appears to be using retributive purges to shore up his own position.
At least 10 FBI personnel, including at least half a dozen agents, with ties to the Mar-a-Lago search have been fired, NBC News reports.
Specifically, the fired personnel were involved in a request during the Mar-a-Lago investigation for phone toll records for Patel and Susie Wiles, who later became the White House chief of staff, the NYT reports.
Abrego Garcia: Substack Live
I’ll be doing a Substack Live report immediately after today’s hearing in the Abrego Garcia criminal case in Nashville. No telling how long the hearing will go, but if you’re signed up through Substack to receive Morning Memo via email, you should get a notification when we start. And of course we’ll post the video, so you’ll be able to watch it at your leisure later.
I’ve previewed the heck out of this hearing so I won’t belabor the point except to say again that this is the preeminent vindictive prosecution challenge anywhere in the country right now. If you need more of a preview:
The Intercept: Trump Won’t Stop Trying to Punish Kilmar Abrego Garcia
WaPo: Prosecution of Kilmar Abrego García faces critical test in court hearing
Major Decision on 3rd Country Removals
In a significant ruling in a case where the Trump administration has repeatedly violated court orders, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy of Boston has declared DHS’s third country removal policy illegal:
This case is about whether the Government may, without notice, deport a person to the wrong country, or a country where he is likely to be persecuted, or tortured, thereby depriving that person of the opportunity to seek protections to which he would be undisputedly entitled. The Department of Homeland Security has adopted a policy whereby it may take people and drop them off in parts unknown—in so-called “third countries”—and, “as long as the Department doesn’t already know that there’s someone standing there waiting to shoot . . . that’s fine.”
It is not fine, nor is it legal.
Murphy paused the effect of his ruling for 15 days to give the administration a chance to appeal, in a case that has already made it to the Supreme Court once and is likely to end up there again.
Must Read
Investigative Post: Blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol is dead
Mass Deportation Watch
Texas: A state grand jury unanimously declined to indict a federal agent in the killing of a U.S. citizen last March. The involvement of a federal agent in the shooting did not become publicly known until last week.
New Jersey: State Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to rein in ICE: Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered (FUCK ICE).
Thomas Goldstein Convicted
SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, once a premier Supreme Court advocate, was convicted on 12 of 16 counts in a tax and mortgage fraud case arising from his double life as a globe-trotting high-stakes poker player.