I’ve been asked many times lately what can be done about the excesses of ICE and CBP violating the constitutional rights of American citizens, whether by killing them or lesser methods. Given the current status of Bivens actions, the answer is “not a damn thing” beyond a state criminal prosecution. As Adam Liptak relates, there was a proposal back in 1987 that could have done the trick.

The key to holding Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents accountable for constitutional violations may lie in a 1987 law review article by a young law professor named Akhil Reed Amar.

“I think it was a good idea then,” he said last week, “and it’s only taken more than half a lifetime for people to actually read the thing.”

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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.” Continue reading →

It was outrageous that an employee of an Internal Revenue Service subcontractor revealed Donald Trump’s tax return to the New York Times. And it was entirely proper that the employee, Charles Littlejohn, was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment for his conduct. But it didn’t end there.

Not until Thursday, though, had a sitting president filed such a suit. President Trump’s complaint, filed in federal court in Miami against the I.R.S. and the Treasury Department, created what legal experts said was the unparalleled situation of federal agencies facing a lawsuit from the head of the executive branch. Mr. Trump has demanded at least $10 billion in damages.

This is a conundrum. Suing the IRS for the breach of confidentiality, something DOGE might give some thought about, is a recourse available to the victim of the IRS breach. And this time, at least, Trump was indeed the victim. Continue reading →

Did you know that Dominion Voting Machines was purchased by a Trump ally? Did you know that the United States Attorney who obtained the search warrant for Fulton County, Georgia, voting records for 2020 came out of Eastern District of Missouri, where Dominion is located? Did you know that the special agent in charge of the Atlanta FBI office was removed by Ka$h Patel a week ago? Did you know that the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, whose responsibility is to coordinate American foreign intelligence agencies went to Fulton County to oversee the FBI execution of the search warrant?

Did you know that the President of the United States is pleased by all this? Continue reading →

Some might consider it ridiculous that Jeff Bezos thought it wise to pay $40 million to produce a movie no one outside the White House wanted. But then, was it really about making a documentary about Trump’s third wife, or about having a mechanism to funnel a $40 million to Trump? As a movie business decision, it was nuts. As a Trump business decision, it was still nuts, given that any purchase of Trump’s affection lasts only until the check clears.

But Amazon paid, and the movie was made.

Amazon paid Ms. Trump’s production company $40 million for the rights to “Melania,” about $26 million more than the next closest bidder, Disney. The fee includes a related docuseries that is scheduled to air later this year. The budget for “Melania” is unknown, but documentaries that follow a subject for a limited amount of time usually cost less than $5 million to produce.

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When the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Republican James Comer, subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton, he no doubt did so for nefarious purposes. It served to focus attention on the Clintons’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and thereby deflect attention from Epstein’s best friend. It was in direct conflict with the position taken by Trump administration officials, who refused to comply with the January 6 select committee’s subpoenas under a baseless claim of Executive Privilege.

There was no good faith basis for the testimony of Bill Clinton, for whom there is no evidence that he had knowledge or connection with Epstein’s sex abuse and trafficking with young girls. There was even less basis for the testimony of Hillary Clinton. Nonetheless, Comer issued the subpoenas for closed-door testimony. Continue reading →

Recognizing the overwhelming unpopularity of the Administration’s response to the killing of Alex Pretti, Trump was miffed. Not so much that he disagreed with the tactics of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and CBT Commandant-at-Large Greg Bovino, as lie and deny has long been Trump’s go-to as he was taught by his sensei, Roy Cohn. But what possible reason could there be for Trump to suffer the slings and arrows of people unwilling to bend to his vision after having seen all the videos when he had people to throw under the bus.

Bye, Bovino. Hide your puppies, as Noem gets nasty when she’s on thin ice. As for Stephen Miller, who knows? Continue reading →

There was no investigation of the killing of Renee Good because, as DAG Todd Blanche concluded, there was nothing to investigate. By seizing the evidence and freezing out the state Bureau of of Criminal Apprehension, they made sure that Minnesota couldn’t do what the feds refused to do.

A similar scenario is playing out after the execution of Alex Pretti, with the feds refusing to secure the crime scene, allow the state access and bizarrely claiming that any investigation would be conducted by DHS, given that Noem already asserted her conclusion that Pretti was there to massacre law enforcement and DHS doesn’t do criminal investigations in any event. Continue reading →

Alex Jeffrey Pretti is dead. Trump called him a domestic terrorist. Noem asserted that he was there to “massacre law enforcement.” She said “I don’t know of any peaceful protester who shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.” Video leaves no doubt that Pretti never brandished a gun, pointed a gun, reached for a gun or otherwise used a gun against anyone. It appears he “was armed” with a gun. He had a permit for a concealed weapon.

To the extent there was any excuse for pumping ten bullets into his body, it was because he had a weapon* on his person.** As loyal Trump sycophant who pretends to be the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli twitted, “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” Continue reading →

There is little question that Jan Carey broke the law by starting a fire in Lafayette Park, even if he did so in protest of Trump’s Executive Order “criminalizing” the burning of the American flag. But he didn’t just start a fire. He then burned the Stars and Stripes the same day that Trump signed his EO. So was he being prosecuted for starting a fire, or targeted for burning the flag? That’s what D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg decided he was entitled to find out.

You cannot falsely shout fire in a crowded theater.  What about lighting a fire in a crowded park? After President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Justice to prosecute anyone who engages in the protected speech of burning the American flag, Defendant Jan Carey marched to Lafayette Park and burned a flag in protest. He stands charged with violating park regulations that prohibit setting a fire outside a designated area or receptacle and lighting a fire that damages property or threatens public safety. Continue reading →