Courts and Trump

The Guardian - A federal court has thwarted the Trump administration’s effort to deport Venezuelan immigrants under a roughly 225-year-old war powers law, ruling that individuals must receive hearings before their removal.

Judge James Boasberg on Monday rejected the government’s attempt to vacate restraining orders protecting Venezuelans accused of gang ties from deportation, instead insisting on due process for those contesting the allegations.

“The named Plaintiffs dispute they are members of Tren de Aragua; they may not be deported until a court decides the merits of their challenge,” Boasberg wrote.

The clash is rooted in Donald Trump’s 15 March proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which permits deportation of foreign nationals during wars or “invasions”. The administration claims activities of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua constitute such an invasion. 

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Block Rehiring of Fired Federal Employees

New Republic - Faced with President Trump’s shakedown, the Paul, Weiss law firm agreed to a “deal” with Trump that sure looks like a ransom payment. Trump then told reporters that firms like these have the option to make similar “deals” to avoid getting targeted—a straight-up extortion threat right in public. We keep hearing that voters don’t care about this kind of thing. But the White House’s top political adviser is warning that Democratic anger could be a big problem in the midterms—and Trump’s lawlessness is a key driver of it 

NBC News - President Donald Trump escalated his assault on law firms with the release of a new memo that authorizes the attorney general and homeland security secretary to sanction firms that file lawsuits the two officials deem "frivolous," legal experts and former Justice Department officials said.

The presidential memorandum, issued Saturday, is titled "Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court," also ordered AG Pam Bondi to recommend revoking attorneys' security clearances or terminating law firms' federal contracts if she deems their lawsuits against the administration "unreasonable" or "vexatious."

The memo follows executive orders against three law firms — Covington & Burling, Perkins Coie, and Paul Weiss — calling on federal contracts of the firms' clients to be reviewed, suspending some employees' security clearances and barring them from some federal buildings. Trump rescinded the order against Paul Weiss last week after the firm struck a deal with the president.

David Laufman, a former head of the DOJ's counterintelligence section who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, described the move as "an authoritarian plan to silence and punish the legal profession" that would have triggered swift intervention.

"He's chilling the very sector of society that stands between Trump and tyranny," said a former federal prosecutor and senior lawyer at a law firm that has sued the administration. Full story

Daily Kos - Article III of the Constitution says that judicial power extends to “all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States”—which is what the judges were doing when plaintiffs argued that the Trump administration was violating U.S. laws while carrying out its destructive agenda.