The End of Due Process, Part I

Morning Dispatch

A Faustian bargain with no souls to sell.

Donald Trump is finally doing what he's been gearing up to do, and in fact, what he's been telling us he's going to do since the first Trump administration: he's openly defying the courts and essentially rendering the rule of law inoperative.

As the legal battles have played out over Donald's illegal deportation of migrants, undocumented workers, and those U.S. residents who are here legally, the Trump regime has made it clear it will not be following court orders and will, in fact, direct DOJ attorneys to obfuscate, delay, and deliberately misinterpret judge’s instructions.

This is an egregious upending of the Constitutional order. The judiciary is a co-qual branch of government designed to act as a check on the executive branch, among other things. But since the Trump regime has come into power, that order has been consistently and brazenly challenged.

This is what Donald and Stephen Miller had to say yesterday in the White House about the Supreme Court’s decision in Abrego Garcia’s case:

DONALD:

What was the ruling in the Supreme Court state? Was it nine to nothing?

STEPHEN MILLER:

Yes, it was a nine zero

DONALD:

In our favor.

STEPHEN MILLER:

In our favor against the District court ruling saying that no district court has the power to compel the foreign policy function of the United States. As Pam said, the ruling solely stated that if this individual at El Salvador's sole discretion was sent back to our country, that we could deport him a second time. No version of this legally ends up with him ever living here because he's a citizen of El Salvador that is the president of El Salvador. Your questions about per the court can only be directed to him.

It was a 9-0 ruling, yes, but it was not in favor of the Trump regime's unconstitutional behavior; it was in favor of the plaintiff who was illegally detained and deported and is currently incarcerated in an El Salvador prison notorious for its inhumane conditions and human rights abuses. Contrary to Stephen Miller’s fantastical retelling, the Supreme Court made it clear that the Trump regime needs to “facilitate” the return of a U.S. resident who has lived here legally since 2011. And yet, the Trump regime continues to deny the plaintiff his habeas rights.

The evolution, if you will, of the Trump regimes justifications for the continued illegal detention of Abrego Garcia in a foreign prison began with the White House's own admission that he was mistakenly deported because of a “administrative error.”

The spin regarding Abrego Garcia’s status that’s now coming out of the Trump White House and DOJ has escalated rapidly and gotten increasingly dark. All of it is in service of justifying their unjustifiable illegal deportations.

At a White House press conference yesterday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the following string of fictions with the conviction of a practiced liar far beyond her years.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, and foreign terrorist who was deported back to his home country. And when Kilmar Abrego Garcia was originally arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with rolls of money covering the ears, mouth, and eyes of presidents on various currency denominations. This is a known MS-13 gang symbol of hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

Abrego Garcia was also arrested with two other well-known members of the vicious MS-13 gang. And two separate judges found that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13, and that finding has never been disputed.

And just this morning, it was revealed through Maryland court documents that Abrego Garcia's wife petitioned for an order of protection against him for two instances of domestic violence in May of 2021.

And here is the order right here. This is from a court in Maryland. So not only are Democrats rushing to defend an illegal criminal foreign terrorist gang member, but also an apparent woman beater.

Abrego Garcia was not and has never been and is not now a member of MS-13. He has no criminal record. As for that civil protective order filed by Abrego Garcia’s wife in 2021 after the couple had a disagreement, this is what she had to say:

Things did not escalate and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling. Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect and no marriage is perfect. That is not a justification for ICE’s action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation. Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.

Yes, none of what Leavitt says about Mr. Abrego Garcia is true, but it feels that we’ve arrived at a place where that is almost beside the point. Joyce Vance put it this way:

But the truth is, as interested as we all are in the backstory in a situation like this, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Abrego Garcia, criminal or saint, was denied his due process rights by the government, and in this country, people are entitled to those rights. Under our Constitution, people, whether criminals or not, whether citizens or not, are entitled to notice before action is taken against them and to a hearing in front of a judge to sort out any issues.

That’s the end of the story.

That’s why it’s utterly reprehensible that Pam Bondi would demean the office she holds to try to convince Americans that this is a bad guy. He might be. Although the evidence linking him to gangs is passably weak and seems suspect, it could be the truth. Even if it is, it doesn’t excuse what the government is doing. It doesn’t make it right for the woman who heads the Justice Department to refuse to follow a federal judge’s orders. It makes it worse.

And that’s the thing, if you are accused of a crime in the United States of America, whether or not you are a citizen, whether or not you are here legally, if it turns out you committed a crime in the United States of America, you are entitled to your habeas rights; you are entitled to due process; you are entitled to be represented in a court of law to face the charges against you.

None of the things that this White House is making up about Abrego Garcia constitutes a reason to deny him those rights.

Remember, the case against Mr. Abrego Garcia started out with an administrative error. He has no history of violence and is considered by others, including his wife, to be a loving husband and father.

But in order to give truth to their lies, the Trump regime has escalated their smears against a man they deported as the result of a mistake they orginally admitted to.

Now, according to them, Abrego Garcia is a terrorist and a lead member of a gang that operates in Brentwood, Long Island—a place he has never even been.

If they can turn a Maryland resident, husband, and father who lives here legally and has no criminal record and no credible connections to a gang into a terrorist and then deny him his habeas rights, they can do this to anybody.

Including you. And including me.

Because if one person in this country is denied due process, due process does not exist in any meaningful way.