Trump vs. The Judicial Branch, Repeat – Liza Donnelly

Who are we, allowing this man to ruin everything?

By Liza Donnelly, Apr 11, 2025

The Supreme Court ordered the return of migrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who is being held in a notorious El Salvadorian prison. Yet Trump continues to “delay, obfuscate and flout” the courts on the return of the migrant. The administration is not following Judge Paula Xinis order, and this is quickly becoming the most contentious confrontations between Trump and the judicial branch. Mr. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, and lawyers for the Justice Department are set to appear today (might be happening right now) in front of Judge Xinis to discuss how to proceed in the case.

Clearly frustrated, she reminded the Justice Department that the administration’s “act of sending Abrego Garcia to El Salvador was wholly illegal from the moment it happened.” The department asked that this hearing be moved to next week, and the judge said the department’s request for additional time to study a four-page Supreme Court order “blinks at reality.”

Unfortunately, when the Supreme Court ruled the other day that the Trump administration had to send Mr. Garcia back, they left the door open for Trump to wriggle out of this. In an aggravating statement, the court wrote, the judge’s decision needed to be made “with due regard for the deference owed to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”

Last time I checked, the three branches of government are equal.

Moments ago, a US immigration judge in Louisiana has ruled that the Trump administration can proceed with the deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested in New York City last month, Reuters reports. Khalil was removed from his home and sent to Lousiana, and you can be sure he was sent there so that this would be the ruling. I am sure this will be challanged. After the hearing, Khalil issued this statement:

“I would like to quote what you said last time, that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness. Clearly what we witnesssed today neither of these principles were present. Today or in this whole process. This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family. I just hope that the urgency that you deemed fit for me is afforded to the hundreds of others who have been here without hearing for months.”

Source Links: https://lizadonnelly.substack.com/p/trump-vs-the-judicial-branch-repeat