Tag Archives: Justice Sonia Sotomayor

USA Today: ‘Spaghetti against the wall?’ Trump tests legal strategies as judges block his policies

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The Trump administration is fighting to kill 40 court orders blocking its new policies.

  • Solicitor General John Sauer urged the Supreme Court to halt nationwide injunctions against Trump policies but said if class-action lawsuits took their place, he would oppose them too.
  • Legal experts said if the Supreme Court abolishes nationwide injunctions, Trump could cut his losses by limiting the reach of court rulings that go against him.

As the Trump administration fights to kill 40 court orders blocking some of his most controversial or aggressive new policies, legal experts say the government’s strategy is to break the cases apart, into individual disputes, to delay an eventual reckoning at the Supreme Court.

One called President Donald Trump’s legal strategy a “shell game.” Another said government lawyers were “throwing spaghetti against the wall” to see what sticks.

“Their bottom line is that they don’t think these cases should be in court in the first place,” said Luke McCloud, a lawyer at Williams and Connolly who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. “They are looking for a procedural mechanism that will make it the most challenging to bring these sorts of cases.”

‘Spaghetti against the wall?’ Trump tests legal strategies as judges block his policies
Some of Trump’ most aggressive policy changes are being blocked by judges all the way to the Supreme Court. To some, the response feels like a shell game.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/17/trump-legal-strategies-federal-judges-injunctions/83673013007

Raw Story: ‘Oof’: Legal experts shocked by Trump DOJ proposal revealed in big Supreme Court hearing

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University of Michigan law professor Leah Litman wrote her own comical paraphrasing of U.S. Supreme Court justices’ comments. In one case, she pointed out Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s “partial list of the SCOTUS precedents (4) this order violates.”

Litman then paraphrased Chief Justice John Roberts in her own words.

“Chief: let’s stop this murder, please,” she quipped.

In one exchange, Justice Elena Kagan asked, if they assume this is a completely illegal executive order, how do the courts actually stop it?

Sauer said it would file a class action.

Kagan said that he would then argue that there isn’t a class to certify under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Sauer agreed, so Kagan asked what other options there were.

Sauer suggested every affected individual would sue.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned if Sauer was seriously proposing such an idea.

Litman wrote her own paraphrasing: “Oh dang Elena Kagan ‘assume you’re really f—— wrong and this order is wildly illegal. Are you saying every individual child has to sue to establish their citizenship?'”

Lawyer and journalist at Rewire, Imani Gandy commented, “Every child of undocumented immigrants has to file their own lawsuit. Millions of lawsuits. Makes perfect sense.”

Civil litigator Owen Barcala posted on Bluesky, “This is such a good point, I’m frustrated I didn’t see it. If the gov issues a clearly illegal order that applies to millions and it is losing in every individual case, why would it ever appeal the losses? So what if they can’t enforce it as to a dozen people if they can still do it for millions?”

MSNBC and Just Security legal analyst Adam Klasfeld cited a debate between Sotomayor and Solicitor General John Sauer.

“Sotomayor notes that barring nationwide injunctions, as the Trump admin asks, would mean that courts would be powerless to stop a ‘clearly, indisputably unconstitutional’ act, taking every gun from every citizen. We couldn’t stop that?” Klasfeld posted on Bluesky, quoting the justice.

&c.

https://www.rawstory.com/birthright-citizenship-2672024689

KFOR: Homeland Security admits Oklahoma raid targeted wrong people

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security admits they know the mom and three daughters who say ICE agents left them traumatized when they raided their Oklahoma City home were not the suspects they were after.

Since KFOR first told you about the family’s ordeal on Monday, hundreds of people from all corners of the country are asking, How could this have happened?

That is the same question KFOR has been asking, and so far, it still has not been answered.

…

[The U.S. Department of Homeland Security] finally responded Wednesday, confirming the raid on Marissa’s house was part of that nationwide operation, and admitting for the first time that Marissa and her family were not supposed to be targeted.

Telling KFOR, “Ice was carrying out a court-authorized search warrant for a large-scale human smuggling investigation. The search warrants included the location of an address where U.S. citizens recently moved. The previous residents were the intended targets.”

…

[Attorney Patrick Jaicomo] says his group will represent Marissa for free too. Telling us her case fits a years-long pattern of questionable raids.

“Based on the facts as I understand them right now, there’s no question that there was a lack of due diligence,” said Jaicomo.

So Homeland Security admits that they f*ck*d up, but thus far has failed to explain why and has not returned the cell phones / laptops / cash that they looted from the home.

Looters should be shot on sight! Especially government looters! No mercy for these fascist DHS pond scum!

https://kfor.com/news/local/homeland-security-admits-oklahoma-raid-targeted-wrong-people

A similar case recently in the news:

Supreme Court seems likely to rule narrowly for family whose house was wrongly raided by FBI
The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to rule narrowly in favor of a family trying to hold law enforcement accountable in court after an FBI raid that wrongly targeted their Atlanta home.

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-fbi-raid-wrong-house-df4fd6235660a67e4b34a1f790c674ca

Supreme Court considers lawsuit arising from ‘wrong house’ FBI raid
FBI agents burst into an Atlanta house with flash-bang grenades and guns drawn, but victims have struggled to hold the government accountable for their actions.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-considers-lawsuit-arising-wrong-house-fbi-raid-rcna200461

https://kfor.com/ap-politics/ap-supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-case-about-fbi-raid-on-wrong-georgia-home

Associated Press: Supreme Court says Trump administration must work to bring back mistakenly deported Maryland man

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The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.

The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.

King Donald has been slapped down 9-0!

Supreme Court says Trump administration must work to bring back mistakenly deported Maryland man
U.S. District Judge had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday.

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-maryland-deportation-trump-9f46dd62890befdc321ed1ab56107470

White House floats deporting U.S. citizens. Justice Sotomayor just warned about that.

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According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt [Bimbo #1], you, too, could get a one-way ticket to a prison in El Salvador:

Responding to a question at Tuesday’s daily briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned President Donald Trump’s “idea” to potentially deport “violent” and “heinous” U.S. citizens, adding a seemingly important caveat: “If it’s legal.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/white-house-floats-deporting-u-s-citizens-justice-sotomayor-just-warned-about-that/ar-AA1CyaGE

Reason: Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Claim That He Can Summarily Deport Anyone He Describes As an ‘Alien Enemy’

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!!!!!!!!!!

The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously agreed that alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have a due process right to challenge President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to summarily deport them.

…

As the Court’s unsigned order in Trump v. J.G.G. notes, “‘it is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law’ in the context of removal proceedings,” meaning “the detainees are entitled to notice and opportunity to be heard ‘appropriate to the nature of the case.'” Specifically, the majority says, “AEA detainees must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.”

That order decisively rejects the Trump administration’s attempt to deport suspected gang members without judicial review.

Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Claim That He Can Summarily Deport Anyone He Describes As an ‘Alien Enemy’
The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously agreed that alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have a due process right to challenge President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to summarily deport them. At the same time, the majority lifted a temporary restraining order (TRO) that blocked those deportations, saying Venezu…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/supreme-court-rejects-trump-s-claim-that-he-can-summarily-deport-anyone-he-describes-as-an-alien-enemy/ar-AA1CxXGN