SCOTUS Happenings

Then they should stop paying the bill to keep him in prison.

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The actual order can be found here, if anyone wants to read it for themselves:

ETA: Linky no worky. Hang on . . .

ETA2: Ok, go here, it’s the first opinion listed.

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Ok, I read the entire order. It’s misleading to say the the Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. As @bluehenbear’s post above sys, the Supreme Court simply refused the government’s request to vacate the District Court’s order to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s release and remanded the case back to District Court for that judge to clarify and amend her order, which she has to do because her original order gave the government until the end of day on the 7th to comply. Obviously they can’t do that now. So she’s going to have to update the date. But also, SCOTUS said they don’t think the District Court has the authority to order the government to “effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s release, so they want her to clarify what she wants the government to do.

The order is unsigned, which means we don’t know if all the Justices agreed with this or if there was some dissent. Sotomayor did include a statement, which KBJ and Kagan also signed onto, saying that she would have never heard this case to begin with, and just allowed the District Court’s order to stand as is. She sounds pretty pissed, actually. For a Supreme Court opinion, her language is pretty strong. It’s the SCOTUS way of saying “What the actual fuck is going on here?!”

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I’m just going to post some of Sotomayor’s statement here, because I think it’s important:

The United States Government arrested Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in Maryland and flew him to a “terrorism confinement center” in El Salvador, where he has been detained for 26 days and counting. To this day, the Government has cited no basis in law for Abrego Garcia’s warrantless arrest, his removal to El Salvador, or his confinement in a Salvadoran prison. Nor could it. The Government remains bound by an Immigration Judge’s 2019 order expressly prohibiting Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador because he faced a “clear probability of future persecution” there and “demonstrated that [El Salvador’s] authorities were and would be unable or unwilling to protect him.” App. to Application To Vacate Injunction 13a. The Government has not challenged the validity of that order. Instead of hastening to correct its egregious error, the Government dismissed it as an “oversight.” Decl. of R. Cerna in No. 25–cv–951 (D Md., Mar. 31, 2025), ECF Doc. 11–3, p. 3. The Government now requests an order from this Court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by the law. The only argument the Government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong. See Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U. S. 426, 447, n. 16 (2004); cf. Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U. S. 723, 732 (2008). The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene. See Trump v. J. G. G., 604 U. S. ___, ___ (2025) (SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 8). That view refutes itself

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There it is. Seems like push may finally be coming to shove.

Now you’re getting it, Sonia! [Evil laughter]

:grimacing:

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Well here we go! They are openly defying the Supreme Court now.
https://archive.is/2025.04.11-183348/https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-doj-refuses-to-comply-with-judges-order-to-return-wrongly-deported-dad-kilmar-abrego-garcia/

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What options are there? If the admin just says “Up yours, we do what we want!” I don’t see where there is any way to make this happen. If the USSC has ruled and is still ignored, there is no “next level.”

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We’re kind of in uncharted territory here. I suppose the court could find the administration in contempt, but I suspect that will result in the same outcome as Trump’s felony convictions in New York.

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We should start a gofundme to pay El Salvador to release him.

It won’t work- but at least we’re fucking with the bastards.

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The problem is Bukele will keep the money and then not release him. He is, after all, a von Clownstick acolyte.

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Nah; it’s a growth industry opportunity.

He can get ransom from so many families.

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I guess we shall shortly discover just how much SCOTUS will kowtow to Il Douche. I wish I was more optimistic.

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The language of the 14th Amendment is pretty clear and unambiguous. If they rule in Trump’s favor, the legal twisting of words to get there is going to be so tortuous that it would violate the Geneva Conventions.

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I am guessing “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” will be where they try to twist the meaning. I have no idea how they could do it, but they do not seem to care very much about actual legality.

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Well the MAGAdiots claim that “subject to the jurisdiction of” means that the person has to be “a subject” of the United States, but that would make it a somewhat circular definition, plus that has never been how that phrase has been interpreted by any court. If you’re in the United States, you are subject to the jurisdiction of US courts, with maybe two exceptions. 1) Foreign diplomats and their families, who have broad diplomatic immunity and so are not subject to US jurisdiction. If the French ambassador to the US has a child born while in DC, that child does not gain US citizenship, because it is not subject to our laws, nor are its parents. 2) Invading armies. Same basic idea. They aren’t subject to our laws.

Now, because of #2, some MAGAdiots are claiming illegal immigrants from Latin America are, for all intents and purposes, an invading army. I cannot imagine this argument will find support with a majority of SCOTUS, but we’ll find out.

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Had never herd the “invading army” POV. That is frighteningly plausible.

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It’s the basis for Trump’s declaration of a national emergency that gave him the authority to change tariffs.

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It’s the basis for what Trump is currently doing to facilitate his power grab from Congress, carry out his mass deportations, and institute tariffs. On the first day, he declared a “national emergency” due to the “invasion”.

@danimagoo
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