Summary
A federal judge criticized a Trump administration Justice Department lawyer who claimed they didn’t have to follow the judge’s oral order blocking deportations to El Salvador because it wasn’t in writing.
Judge Boasberg questioned why the administration ignored his directive to return immigrants to the US. The DOJ lawyer repeatedly refused to provide information about the deportations, citing “national security concerns.”
Frustrated, Boasberg ordered sworn declarations explaining what happened, quipping that he would issue a written order “since apparently my verbal orders don’t seem to carry much weight.”
The US is in a constitutional crisis with situations like this, and so many people just don’t seem to care or want to acknowledge that it’s at that point.
I think the seeds for this were sown in the post 9/11 secret court system, in which the US govt authorized itself to break national and international law.
Even in that case, they claimed there was due process. It may not have been public or aboveboard but they claimed due process. Maybe there was, we can’t tell because it was secret. Worst case scenario, they pretended.
No one even pretends anymore.
This is even worse, I’m just pointing out that in legal terms the US has been heating this particular frog for quite a while now.