The opinion is a mere three pages, almost nothing in the scheme of judicial decisions these days, which can stray into the hundreds of pages with the formulaic content and a bit of cut and paste. But Western District of Texas Judge Fred Biery didn’t want to bury the lede in his ruling for five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father.

In a blistering opinion ordering Liam’s release, Judge Fred Biery of the Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas condemned “the perfidious lust for unbridled power” and “the imposition of cruelty.” The boy’s father, Adrian Conejo Arias, was also arrested and the pair were taken to an immigration detention center outside San Antonio. A lawyer for the family previously said in court filings that Mr. Conejo Arias, who is from Ecuador, had legally entered the country under American guidelines for asylum. The Department of Homeland Security had charged that Mr. Conejo Arias had entered the country illegally in December 2024.

To call the opinion “blistering” is an understatement. I called it a “scorcher.”

Apparent also is the government’s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence. Thirty-three-year-old Thomas Jefferson enumerated grievances against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation. Among others were:

1. “He has sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People.”
2. “He has excited domestic Insurrection among us.”
3. “For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us.”
4. “He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our Legislatures.”

“We the people” are hearing echos of that history.

And then there is that pesky inconvenience called the Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and persons or things to be seized.

U.S. CONST. amend. IV.

But that’s not all.

Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. That is called the fox guarding the henhouse. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.

And there’s more!

Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human  decency. And the rule of law be damned.

The opinion ends with the iconic image of Liam in his bunny hat and Spider Man backpack. Clearly, Judge Biery was sending message, and making the message as snarky as possible.

As a general rule, judicial opinions should avoid being cute or snarky, as they aren’t exercises in creative writing. But Judge Biery felt no such restraint in his outrage at the government (which is written with a lower case “g” in the opinion, a subtle message that will be familiar to lawyers who practice federal criminal law) for its treatment of Liam and his father.

But there is a rub. This is how the opinion closes.

Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: “Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?” “A republic, if you
can keep it.”

With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike,

It is so ORDERED.

SIGNED this 31st day of February, 2026.

The opinion is dated the “31st day of February,2026.” As the opinion issued on January 31st, the date was obviously a typo, likely stemming from some confusion as to whether it would issue at the end of one month or the beginning of the next. Obviously, there is no 31st day of February.

Except a blistering decision, dripping with anger and sarcasm, really can’t afford the sloppiness of a typo. If you’re going to write an opinion replete with snark, you need to make absolutely certain there are no errors. You shouldn’t benchslap the government for its failures while making a mistake of your own. Stercus acidit, sure, but when you write an opinion like this, there is no room for such a sloppy mistake.