Trump vs The Judicial Branch, Repeat

Who are we?

The Supreme Court ordered the return of migrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who is being held in a notorious El Salvadorian prison. Yet Trump continues to “delay, obfuscate and flout” the courts on the return of the migrant. The administration is not following Judge Paula Xinis order, and this is quickly becoming the most contentious confrontations between Trump and the judicial branch. Mr. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, and lawyers for the Justice Department are set to appear today (might be happening right now) in front of Judge Xinis to discuss how to proceed in the case.

Clearly frustrated, she reminded the Justice Department that the administration’s “act of sending Abrego Garcia to El Salvador was wholly illegal from the moment it happened.” The department asked that this hearing be moved to next week, and the judge said the department’s request for additional time to study a four-page Supreme Court order “blinks at reality.”

Unfortunately, when the Supreme Court ruled the other day that the Trump administration had to send Mr. Garcia back, they left the door open for Trump to wriggle out of this. In an aggravating statement, the court wrote, the judge’s decision needed to be made “with due regard for the deference owed to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”