Welcome back, Deadline: Legal Newsletter readers. Is the Trump administration working to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States? It sounds like an odd question at first, given the government’s stubborn stance in this case and others. But there was a mysterious development raising the possibility. Plus, yet another judge ordered yet another person’s return from El Salvador, all while lawyers for scores of people held in that nation’s notorious terror prison press a new claim for “urgent” relief.
Ahead of the mystery move, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis blasted the government’s “willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations.” (Discovery is the information-gathering process during litigation.) In an order Tuesday, Xinis assailed the Trump administration’s “continued mischaracterization” of the Supreme Court’s demand to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release and “to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” She told officials to answer his lawyers’ questions by Wednesday evening.
But then a sealed motion appeared Wednesday on Xinis’ docket. It was from the government, seeking a weeklong pause in the discovery fight. A sealed response from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers followed, and Xinis granted the motion. Crucially, she noted the pause was “[w]ith the agreement of the parties.” The details of the filings weren’t public, so we don’t know what each side said. But why would Abrego Garcia and Xinis agree to any delay if it’s not to get him back? The docket has been silent since Wednesday.
Meanwhile, another judge ordered the return of another man from El Salvador. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher sided with a 20-year-old going by “Cristian” in court papers who, she said, was wrongly sent to that country before his asylum application was processed. “Thus, like Judge Xinis in the Abrego Garcia matter, this Court will order Defendants to facilitate Cristian’s return to the United States so that he can receive the process he was entitled to,” Gallagher wrote.
But what about all the others shipped to El Salvador and loaded into a notorious prison without due process? Lawyers are now seeking their return, too. The motion is pending before U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who found probable cause last week to hold Trump officials in contempt, which the administration is currently trying to appeal.
Speaking of Trump v. The Judiciary on immigration, his administration just escalated the war by arresting a Wisconsin state court judge whom the federal government alleged obstructed an immigration arrest. “No one is above the law,” Donald Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, said upon the arrest of Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan. A statement on Dugan’s behalf said she “has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career” and “looks forward to being exonerated.”
Elsewhere in Law & Order, three more federal prosecutors from the Eric Adams boondoggle resigned rather than betray their oaths. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wanted them to admit wrongdoing in refusing to dismiss the case for Trump’s political aims, but they declined to “confess wrongdoing when there was none.” And one of the president’s latest clemency grants for a loyal supporter is memorably captured in The Associated Press’ headline: Trump pardons Nevada politician who paid for cosmetic surgery with funds to honor a slain officer.
The Supreme Court enters its final full week of hearings Monday, after considering a request this week from parents to keep their elementary school kids away from instruction involving LGBTQ-themed books. The high court majority sounded ready to side with the parents’ religious appeal, while another big argument is set for Wednesday over a bid for the nation’s first public religious charter school in Oklahoma. That would typically be the final hearing of the term, but remember that the justices set a rare May 15 hearing on birthright citizenship, too.
As always, emergency appeals will keep the court busy on immigration and more, with the administration this week adding another urgent filing seeking to enforce its transgender military service ban. We could learn next week if the court wants to help Trump out on that one — so far in his second term, his record is mixed at the court. What’s certain is that the appeals will keep coming.
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