Attention to the Unseen

CBS News reports: A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the federal government cannot deport or detain Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil for the foreign policy reasons cited by the Trump administration. The preliminary injunction — issued by U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of New Jersey — does not go into effect until Friday morning, giving the government a chance to appeal. But it marks a blow to the Trump administration’s push to remove Khalil, a green card holder who was…

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Ian Millhiser writes: The Social Security Administration v. AFSCME case arises on the Court’s “shadow docket,” a mix of emergency motions and other matters that the Court decides on an unusually tight schedule, without full briefing or oral argument. Prior to the first Trump administration, the Court rarely granted requests for shadow docket relief — indeed, lawyers were so discouraged from seeking shadow docket decisions that both the Bush and Obama administrations only requested it about once every other year….

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  A phony indictment? A corrupt “extradition” order to El Salvador? A prosecutor who won’t abide by corruption and resigns? All of this and so much more when Michael Popok updates you on Armando Abrego Garcia’s arraignment and developments in the Tennessee Federal criminal case, and explains why none of this gets the Trump Administration out of hot water with Judge Xinis in Maryland.

ABC News reports: Abrego Garcia’s attorney, in an online press briefing, called the charges against his client “an abuse of power.” “They’ll stop at nothing at all — even some of the most preposterous charges imaginable — just to avoid admitting that they made a mistake, which is what everyone knows happened in this case,” said attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Mr. Garcia is going to be vigorously defending the charges against him,” the attorney said. The decision to pursue the indictment…

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HuffPost reports: Five members of the Proud Boys pardoned by President Donald Trump for orchestrating the Capitol insurrection have turned around and sued the federal government, forcing Trump’s administration into an awkward position. The lawsuit from members of the neofascist group — all of whom were convicted and given lengthy sentences for the key roles they played in the riot on Jan. 6, 2021 — claims they were the victims of “egregious and systemic abuse of the legal system and…

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The New York Times reports: A powerful sign that President Trump’s tariff-driven trade war is at risk came in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in April by a coalition that included many prominent conservative and libertarian lawyers, scholars and former officials. The brief was also a signal of a deepening rift between Mr. Trump and the conservative legal movement, one that burst into public view last week with the president’s attacks on the Federalist Society, whose leaders helped pick the judges…

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WISN 12 News reports: When United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly praised the arrest of Ramon Morales-Reyes as the suspect initially believed to be responsible for writing a letter threatening to shoot President Donald J. Trump, it added fuel to the already fiery debate over immigration in America and Southeast Wisconsin. However, Noem’s definitive identification of Morales-Reyes, 54, as the person who wrote the letter was inaccurate, according to newly filed records. Milwaukee County prosecutors, on…

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Reuters reports: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security removed a list of “sanctuary” states, cities and counties from its website following sharp criticism from a sheriffs’ association that said a list of “non-compliant” sheriffs could severely damage the relationship between the Trump administration and law enforcement. DHS on Thursday published a list of what it called “sanctuary” jurisdictions that allegedly limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The list prompted a response from the National Sheriffs’ Association, which represents more than…

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Austin Sarat writes: In his farewell address to the nation more than 200 years ago, President George Washington warned the branches of government to “confine themselves within their respective Constitutional spheres.” Encroachment on other branches, he wrote, “tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.” Today’s Republican Party never heard that advice. GOP majorities in the House and Senate have stood by as President Donald…

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The New York Times reports: President Trump appears to be declaring independence from outside constraints on how he nominates judges, signaling that he is looking for loyalists who will uphold his agenda and denouncing the conservative legal network that helped him remake the federal judiciary in his first term. Late Thursday, after a ruling struck down his tariffs on most imported goods, Mr. Trump attacked the Federalist Society, leaders of which heavily influenced his selection of judges during his first…

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Politico reports: President Donald Trump leveled unusually pointed criticism of a prominent conservative legal activist and organization Thursday as he railed against a ruling that struck down his sweeping tariffs. The president, in a post on his social media platform, slammed Leonard Leo, the former chair of the Federalist Society, calling him a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America.” It was a striking characterization of Leo, who played a key role in working with Trump to shape the conservative Supreme Court….

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