Hopefully the Court will decide against Trump.
I saw a lawyer over on reddit who opined that actually winning this particular case might backfire on Trump.
The notion was, if shipping a person off to a foreign prison removes then entirely from US jurisdiction, then such actions will likely be determined to be “cruel and unusual” punishments, or at least just an excessive punishment, because there’s no chance for clemency, or to fix an error, such as in this case. They might win this one case, but then face an injunction stopping any such future deportations/renditions.
“You admit you’re powerless to undo this error, therefore you’re not allowed to risk making such errors ever again.”
Chief Justice John Roberts granted the Trump Administration a reprieve from the 11:59 p.m. deadline. However:
The chief justice’s order is not a ruling on the underlying legal issues in the case. It is likely to remain in place while the Supreme Court decides what steps to take next.
5-4 ruling; the admin can continue to use the Alien Enemies Act for now while lower courts litigate the issue, but affected persons cannot be summarily deported without due process. Barret joining the liberals in dissent.
Not ideal, but a partial win for rule of law.
I’ll take what I can get. That being said, what a dickhead Justice Roberts is.
Unsigned ruling - the admin must return Kilmar Albrego Garcia to US soil.
Not exactly. See:
Roberts seems to me to have left in some ambiguity in order to get a 9-0 ruling.
Since Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen, President Bukele may not want to let him go. Plus, when Trump meets privately with Bukele (scheduled for Monday), it will be impossible to force Donald to firmly and unambiguously tell Bekele to hand over Albrego Garcia.
I think it a promising decision. SCOTUS is at least serious about not letting the U.S. government send people to foreign horror prisons without OK from an American judge. It would be better if they ruled that the government cannot ever send people to foreign prisons, period, but that can not be a 9-0 ruling.
This ruling is a serious check on the ability of the Trump administration to send people to the modern equivalent of a concentration camp.
Who’s up for a legit Constitutional crisis??
El Salvador’s Bukele says he will not return man the US mistakenly deported [Reuters]
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said at the White House on Monday he had no plans to return a man mistakenly deported from the United States, suggesting that doing so would be like smuggling a terrorist into the country.
“The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during the Oval Office meeting.
[And, no. Bukele wasn’t told what his position on this should be At. All. /s]
[different source – apocryphal historic reference]:
The court has made its decision, now let them enforce it.
It’s on … like Donkey Kong.
Nah…it’s over as in “bend me over”.
In before: Bukele sadly announces that Garcia fell down an elevator shaft.
Onto some bullets.
I wonder if anybody really knows individual names of anybody in that prison. After all, they are crammed together like sardines, not allowed to talk, and incarcerated there for life (however short or long that may be). In sum, they are merely bodies. The dead are buried in mass graves. With no contact with the outside world, including with families, I wonder if there is even notification when a prisoner dies. I even wonder whether they have a list of names of all the prisoners at all.
I found myself wondering whether Kristi Noem was going to ask Bukele … “Hey. Can I shoot a couple of those guys??”
My understanding (possibly mistaken) is that the Trump admin cntracted w/ El Salvador to house the deportees for 1 year, I believe within which time the US was expected to make some determination as to their status.
I am surprised at how little discussion I have seen of this “contract” agreement in the media coverage. What are the specific terms of this agreement? Where was it memorialized? What records are being kept?
Such discussion just seems terribly relevant when Trump and Bukele claim their mutual “helplessness” to do anything.
Just heard a clip of (I believe) Bondi on the radio saying, “we cannot effectuate…”
I really wish I were not so attuned to actual word choice. This issue is not whether the administration CAN effectuate his return; it is whether a court can ORDER/COMPEL THEM TO effectuate his return.
It seems so unnecessarily confusing to say the US lacks any power in this situation when, in fact, their position seems to be that they do not want to and cannot be made to do so. By saying that they “cannot” bring him home, that seems to somehow suggest a fact-finding question as to what the nature of the US-El Salvador agreement is, and what factors limit the US’s action.
As opposed to simply saying, “this is entirely at our discretion, and beyond anyone else’s control.”
Has anyone heard any further word from the DCt as to how they expect the admin to “facilitate” his return and what, if anything, they mean by “effectuate.” (I believe there is a hearing set for this afternoon.) Apparently the admin has made clear that they believe facilitate means nothing other than to make a plane available should El Salvador wish to send him back.
Words matter. And in this case, I’m seeing considerable lack of clarity WRT the specific words being used. (Such focus on specific words and definitions is one reason non-lawyers often criticize lawyers. But it is pretty much a bedrock element of all areas of the law. Case in point, Clinton was not entirely without legal basis is questioning the definition of “is.”)
I wonder what is going to happen in a year when the US makes no determination of their status (beyond “we don’t want them back” anyhow) and stops paying El Salvador for their imprisonment.
At the rate things have been moving lately, wondering what might happen a year from now seems almost incomprehensibly far in the future! 
You say that like Donald Trump would ever stiff someone he owes money to.
That hearing is currently taking place and it isn’t going well for DOJ.
My money says the final response from the DOJ will be something like: “Yeah? Or what?”
Perhaps. But this is the way the law is supposed to proceed. 2 weeks discovery. Will be interesting to see how that proceeds, as well as any appeals. This has not yet gotten to the point of direct defiance, but it is getting closer.
We’ve got another damned competent judge giving no truck to Trump’s nonsense and illegalities. Good to see.