It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
By citing the act, the administration seems to be highlighting its aggressive posture without taking steps that might be deemed to violate a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge.
Judge James E. Boasberg’s order says that the Venezuelan immigrants should have the opportunity to challenge the accusation by the Trump administration that they are members of a gang.
A hearing on Friday afternoon could also include some discussion about the Justice Department’s repeated recalcitrance in responding to the judge’s demands.
To invoke wartime deportation powers, President Trump asserted that Venezuela’s government controls a gang. U.S. intelligence analysts think that is not true.
Judges have rarely been removed from the federal bench, and only for criminal acts. But House Republicans are intensifying efforts to oust them for decisions against President Trump.
The question of whether the deported Venezuelans actually have ties to Tren de Aragua could be raised at a hearing set for Friday in Federal District Court in Washington.
The president’s escalating conflict with federal courts goes beyond what has happened in countries like Hungary and Turkey, where leaders spent years remaking the judiciary.
President Trump’s expansive interpretation of presidential power has become the defining characteristic of his second term.
Judge James Boasberg has asked the government to tell him what time two planes took off from U.S. soil and from where, what time they left U.S. airspace and what time they landed in El Salvador.
Legal scholars say that the nation has reached a tipping point and that the right question is not whether there is a crisis, but rather how much damage it will cause.