Bond’s the name
It was a bad law week for Trump, except for a super conservative appellate court decision, limited to Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, approving mandatory mass detention without bond for immigrant families awaiting possible deportation, including grandmas, long time residents, and American citizens, most of whom have never been in trouble with the law. Let’s see what the Supreme Court will do about this one.
📰 In the News
More and more ham sandwiches aren’t getting indicted nowadays
Trump relishes harassing his political enemies, and believes he can indict anyone he chooses. Recently, he sought the indictment of six members of Congress for launching a video warning members of the military to obey only legal orders, an obvious reference to Trump’s lethal strikes against ships sailing in international waters near Venezuela.
In a stunning rebuke, a Washington grand jury refused to indict the lawmakers, even though Trump had accused them of seditious behavior punishable with death.
Trump’s acolyte, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, also started an administrative proceeding against one of the legislators, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired naval officer and war hero. Hegseth sought to strip Kelly of his pension and rank earned for loyal and distinguished service. A Washington federal judge enjoined the move as violating Kelly’s free speech rights. My article in The Hill this week observes that a prosecutor can normally get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, but not always.
Gerrymandering in Texas and California has become a Mexican standoff
Trump cannot afford to lose the midterms. With a defeat goes much of his power and agenda. So, he ordered the ever loyal Governor Abbott of Texas to carve the turkey and create six additional MAGA congressional districts, and the Supreme Court blessed it. Then, Governor Newsom responded in California and created six new Democrat-friendly districts.
The Supreme Court was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Trump’s lawyers had successfully argued that the Texas gerrymander was kosher, and then did an astonishingly cynical volte face contending that the California whack-up was “tainted by an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” What to do? The Court in a one sentence order on its infamously laconic shadow docket said the California plan could proceed at least for now. My article in The Hill reviews the bidding.
🎙 On Conversations
On the next episode of On Conversations, I’m joined by returning guest Chris Whipple—acclaimed author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker—to discuss his recent interview with President Trump’s Chief of Staff. Chris shares what he learned from this conversation at the highest levels of the administration and what it reveals about how power really works in the White House. Don’t miss this fascinating discussion.
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💬 P.S. from Zirin
A deportation proceeding is a civil, not a criminal case, and it has been the practice of federal judges for decades to allow someone the government seeks to deport to be admitted to bail with the posting of a bond. After all, most of those detained have never committed a criminal offense, grandmas who have lived here since they were three. Some have valid claims of asylum, some have entered the country legally, others may be American citizens.
