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.

Continue reading →

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 →

It’s unsurprising that noted legal scholar and press secretary Karoline Leavitt, took to Fox News to echo Dear Leader’s proclamation of a great victory. After all, the per curiam decision was a very long four pages. But one would have suspected a Yale law school grad to have the fortitude to wade through all four pages, making the vice president’s reaction somewhat sad.

The Supreme Court today rejected the idea that far left judges in DC can overrule President Trump’s immigration enforcement.

This is a major loss for the lunatics and a major win for the American people.

Onward!

Except that’s not even remotely what the Supreme Court did, which should have been obvious even to J.D. Vance, whose eyes are clouded with visions of future relevance. Rather, the Supreme Court vacated the temporary restraining orders not because they were wrong, but because the 5-4 majority held that the habeas corpus petitions were brought in the wrong venue. Continue reading →

A few things are not in issue, no matter what some claim. It may be that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious gang MS-13, but nothing has yet been proven to support the accusation. It may well be that Abrego Garcia should be deported, but his being snatched and renditioned to El Salvador while subject to an order prohibiting his removal was unlawful. These two things are indisputable.

The third thing that’s not in issue is that the government’s lead immigration prosecutor, Erez Reuveni, has a duty of candor to District Judge Paula Xinis. Trump criminal defense lawyer turned Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche knows this. He just didn’t care. Continue reading →

For the most part, the argument goes that the basis for imposing tariffs, the declaration of a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), is a pointless circle, since it’s the president who gets to decide and declare the existence of an emergency. But the New Civil Liberties Alliance has brought suit against Trump under a different theory, challenging his initial tariffs against China.

The complaint alleges that Trump’s executive orders raising tariffs on Chinese imports exceed the statutory authority of the IEEPA, and that a ruling upholding this assumed authority would violate the nondelegation doctrine, which prohibits Congress from transferring to other branches of government “powers which are strictly and exclusively legislative.” When Congress does delegate its power, it must provide an intelligible principle, i.e., “a legal framework to constrain the authority of the delegee.” The suit argues that the IEEPA contains no such principle vis-à-vis tariffs, which are nowhere mentioned in the statute.

Continue reading →