They got a conservative judge in a conservative circuit, and still Trump got crushed when Fourth Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, joined by  Judges Robert King and Stephanie Thacker, unanimously denied the motion for an emergency stay of Judge Paula Xinis’ contempt hearing.

It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done.

This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.

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There is a problem in higher education, and that problem was evident in Harvard Yard when tents were set up, students were harassed, classes were disrupted, and students were prevented from getting to class because of their religion. Harvard did not merely do a very poor job of addressing the problem, but was flagrantly hypocritical in that it would never have tolerated any of it had the target been black students or transgender students rather than Jewish students.

Harvard had a problem. It still does. And yet, it’s still Harvard, the premier university of America and third best engineering school on Mass Ave. It needs to deal with its problem, as well as penumbras which have prevented diversity of thought, ideas and beliefs from thriving in a setting theoretically dedicated to scholarly inquiry. Harvard was, and still remains, intolerant of heretics. Continue reading →

Between the non-responsive, if downright moronic, updates tendered by the government as to the status of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, and the show pony press conference with peculiarly attired Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele, Trump has taken his stand.

The message from the meeting was clear: Neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Bukele had any intention of returning Mr. Abrego Garcia, even though the Supreme Court has ruled that he should come back to the United States. The case has come to symbolize Mr. Trump’s defiance of the courts and his willingness to deport people without due process.

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From the outside, it appeared that Paul Weiss’ capitulation to Trump was a shameful act of cowardice. Yet, others followed, even though there were no Executive Orders issued against them and, as far as can be known, no intention or reason to do so. Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher, and Cadwalader, all dropped to their knees before Trump, accepting his anti-DEI oversight and committing themselves to a hundred million plus in pro bono representation of Trump-supported causes.

Cowards? So it seems, but David Lat raised another possibility. A far darker possibility. Continue reading →

Not even the most dyed-in-the-wool progressives would seriously contend that the federal government was a good steward of our tax dollars. Years ago, it was $600 toilet seats and a bridge to nowhere. Senator William Proxmire would tender the Golden Fleece Award to the most wasteful government spending. He never ran out of projects worthy of disdain. The federal government was in dire need of review for efficiency and effectiveness, since it was our money they were pissing away.

Something must be done.

This is something. Continue reading →

After the less than helpful and illuminating shadow docket decision by the Supreme Court, District Judge Paula Xinis found herself in a quandary. Do her orders matter or not? Does she hold the government in contempt or not? Does one person whose rendition was undeniably unlawful have to stay in a notorious torture prison in El Salvador or not? Was she going to be the person who either forced the Trump administration to back down and comply, or was she going to be the judge about whom the president says “let Xinis enforce it”?

Judge Xinis made her decision. Continue reading →

Prefatory Note: Happy Weekend before Easter everyone! You might figure out from the context clues what I’m planning to do this weekend.—CLS

Sheriff Roy Templeton leaned back in his creaky office chair, sipping coffee that tasted like it’d been brewed in a tractor engine. It was Good Friday in Mud Lick, Alabama, and the town was buzzing with anticipation for the annual Easter egg hunt. Kids were primed to scramble across the field behind First Baptist, chasing candy-filled plastic eggs, while parents prayed the sugar high wouldn’t last past supper.

Roy, being the sensible sort, had no intention of attending—crowds of sticky-fingered young’uns weren’t his idea of a holiday. Besides, he’d rather be home leveling up his base in Crashlands 2, but duty had a way of dragging him into messes he’d prefer to avoid. Continue reading →

On the one hand, it could have been far, far worse. There is nothing in the two-page unsigned order that agrees with any of the insanely idiotic arguments proffered by Solicitor General John Sauer on behalf of the Trump administration, that having committed an “administrative error” by illegally renditioning Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, it was now beyond the district judge’s authority to compel the government to do anything to correct its screw up.

To that extent, the Government’s emergency application is effectively granted in part and the deadline in the challenged order is no longer effective. The rest of the District Court’s order remains in effect but requires clarification on remand. The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.

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Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.

–Attributed to Lavrentiy Beria

As Trump’s revenge tour goes on, he has issued three new Executive Memoranda to vindicate his personal grievances. His targets are two former members of his administration and the law firm that obtained a $787.5 million defamation settlement against Fox News on behalf of Dominion Voting Systems. It takes little, a typed page and a signature, for a president to make an official presidential declaration. It need not pass muster with anyone else, or be authorized by a law. It’s just a president doing it because he can. So Trump did. Continue reading →

Honorable Sir,

I realize that we’re not old friends, and there is no reason why you would consider my thoughts to be any more worthwhile than anyone else’s, but as a lawyer and believer in the institutional value of the Supreme Court, I hope you will consider them nonetheless.

As you are no doubt aware, the Supreme Court has been in a precarious situation for the past couple months. The decisions of the past few years have given rise to doubts about the integrity of the Court. I understood, but deeply disagreed with, the Court’s dismissal of stare decisis in Dobbs. I understood the Court’s point in US v. Trump, but see the decision as functionally sloppy and impractical. And then there is Bruen, which has proven to be an unworkable mess rife with mischief. This is not to suggest you’re unaware of these problems, but that they provide the context within which the nation perceives the legitimacy of the “Least Dangerous Branch.” Continue reading →