...according to The Contrarian
 |
This was the week that the Supreme Court showed they too would be part of the opposition to Trump’s autocracy. That assessment emerged from three wins for the rule of law and losses for the Trump administration at SCOTUS—some nuanced, some less so.
Best of all, you Contrarians were a part of all three!
In case after case the Court refused to countenance Trump‘s illegality. The most outstanding example was their 9-0 rejection of Trump‘s position that he could illegally deport innocent migrants in the Abrego Garcia case. That was the case of the Maryland dad who was wrongly deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. The court unanimously ruled that the Trump administration must “facilitate“ his return.
Yes, there was some SCOTUS compromising and baby-splitting involved. A lot, in fact. In Abrego Garcia, the lower court had ordered that the administration not only facilitate but also “effectuate” his return. The Roberts Court held that the latter term may have gone too far—the courts can’t mandate the outcome. But ordering facilitation—i.e. making the administration do everything in their power—is still a win. It gets to the same result just a bit more slowly. Indeed, the District Court judge who has the case is already using it to push for return.
That same pattern played out in the two other big cases this week. I'll explain how before I get to your role.
In the other parallel case about hundreds of deportations of Venezuelans to that same El Salvador prison, the “Alien Enemies Act” case, SCOTUS also rejected the Trump position. The Trump regime had argued that they could use that Act to simply disappear migrants with no due process. Not so fast, the Court replied—migrants do have rights, but DC was not the right venue to litigate them. They should be raised in the US judicial district or districts with a closer geographic connection to the dispute, such as where the migrants were held in custody. The next day, the plaintiffs immediately initiated such proceedings in multiple lower federal courts.
The third SCOTUS case was similar. It was the litigation brought by unions, NGO’s, and others combating the illegal firing of thousands of probationary employees. There, too, SCOTUS laid out a roadmap for eventual relief. It ruled that the NGO plaintiffs did not “presently” have standing to bring the case, leaving the door open to NGO standing being established by additional proceedings, or to the unions and other types of plaintiffs establishing their own standing. Like in the AEA case, the plaintiffs were in the federal district court the next morning pushing on that open door and a ruling is expected shortly.
I ought to know—we are co-counsel in the case over at State Democracy Defenders Fund. And because The Contrarian helps support SDDF litigation efforts, in addition to our important work here to stand up to Trump, if you are a paying subscriber you too are part of that fight for justice. The same is true in the battle against the illegal deportations. SDDF filed a brief at the Supreme Court on behalf of almost three dozen prominent conservatives that helped carry the day with this conservative majority SCOTUS. Our paid subscribers helped SDDF do that. If you aren’t among those, would you please consider an upgrade?
SubscribedTo be fair, the news in these three Roberts Court cases was not all good. In all three, a lower court order that was even better was set aside in whole or in part. In each of the cases, there were outcomes not to like (and we discussedthem candidly in our Contrarian coverage this week). It was a series of half-full glasses. But when you pour them together you get an overflowing cup. In my view that’s positive and hopefully augurs more favorable rulings to come.
In their own nuanced way, a shifting pro-democracy majority on the Roberts Court joined the dozens of lower court judges (appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents) who have been holding the line against Trump’s worst autocratic excesses. Taken together with the political opposition at the polls (such as in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race), the popular pushback (e.g. the millions who joined last week’s Hands Off rallies), and Trump’s own bumbling (with his economy-crushing flailing on consumer taxes, AKA tariffs), no wonder his popularity is dropping like a rock.
