Raw Story: Trump’s henchmen are driving him to Supreme Court clash that he doesn’t care about: expert

President Donald Trump seems likely to stage a major showdown with the U.S. Supreme Court that a legal expert believes is an intentional effort to gather up authoritarian powers.

The president has been attacking judges who rule against him in legal challenges to his executive orders, and Stanford Law School’s Matthew Seligman told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent that Vice President JD [“Dunce”] Vance and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller were even more eager than Trump to break the courts.

“This implicates an important distinction between Trump as an optical authoritarian versus [“Dunce”] Vance and [“Goebbels”] Miller as substantive authoritarians,” Seligman said. “Trump wants the trappings of authoritarianism. He wants everybody to talk about how he’s the most powerful person, and he wants it to look like he’s in charge.”

He wants the big parade,” …

But:

The vice president and Trump’s deputy chief of staff want to break the court’s opposition to Trump so the president carry out the “pure will of the people,” meaning the MAGA base, without bureaucratic obstacles, as Sargent put it.

“[“Goebbels”] Miller and [“Dunce”] Vance, I think, are much more committed to substantive authoritarianism,” Seligman agreed. “They actually want to exercise the power. They actually want to degrade the rule of law because they actually want to impose this particular vision — very dark vision — of America’s future on the country. 

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-supreme-court-2672130148

Raleigh News & Observer: Trump Suffers Blow as Judge Rebukes ‘Invasion’ Claim

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. recently ruled that President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to detain and deport Venezuelan immigrants is unlawful. Rodriguez determined that the government’s actions exceed the statute’s scope and contradict its plain meaning. The ruling is the first to state that the AEA cannot apply to alleged gang members.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-suffers-blow-as-judge-rebukes-invasion-claim/ss-AA1F0BmB

USA Today: Thousands of federal employees are on a roller coaster of being fired, rehired

‘Inefficency in the name of efficiency,’ according to one federal employee who was fired, rehired and may be fired again.

In recent months, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, rehired and threatened with firing again.

For now, they have a two-week reprieve, after a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration not to carry out any additional firings for two weeks, but the administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.

But employees describe weeks of uncertainty, worry and doubt as their jobs are off, then on, then off again.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/18/federal-employees-fired-rehired-await-court-decision/83600693007

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

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

Sacramento Bee: ‘Unprecedented’: Judge’s Anti-ICE Ruling Signals Major Shift

A federal judge in Texas has ruled against the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants Julio Cesar Sanchez Puentes and Luddis Norelia Sanchez Garcia. District Judge David Briones ordered their release from a Texas detention facility, finding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) failed to provide a lawful basis for their continued detention. The court has found that the allegations against the couple relied on hearsay without personal knowledge from the declarants involved.

The couple entered the U.S. in 2022 in El Paso and were initially detained by immigration officials. After being paroled the next day, the family lived in Washington, DC, with their three children under temporary protected status. Their status was terminated due to an alleged association with the Tren de Aragua gang.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/unprecedented-judge-s-anti-ice-ruling-signals-major-shift/ss-AA1ElSjI

Daily News: Trump’s NJ golf courses can still serve liquor even though he’s a felon

Liquor is still allowed at President Donald Trump’s New Jersey golf courses, despite a state law barring felons from serving and profiting from the sale of alcohol.

The state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, or ABC, initially opted against renewing liquor licenses for the Trump National Golf Clubs — in Bedminster and Colts Neck — after a New York jury convicted the president in May 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. They were related to a hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, made in the final stretch of the 2016 presidential election.

There’s one set of laws for the wealthy and privileged, another set of laws for the Little People.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-nj-golf-courses-still-173800805.html

Alternet: ‘Taunt the judiciary’: Legal scholars slam ‘invalid’ MAGA lawsuit against John Roberts

On April 22, according to Talking Points Memo (TPM) reporter Josh Kovensky, the America First Legal Foundation filed a “little-known lawsuit” against U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the head of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts — accusing the federal courts of undermining his presidential powers.

“The case ostensibly proceeds as a FOIA lawsuit, with the Trump-aligned group seeking access to judiciary records,” Kovensky explains. “But, in doing so, it asks the courts to cede massive power to the White House: the bodies that make court policy and manage the judiciary’s day-to-day operations should be considered independent agencies of the executive branch, the suit argues, giving the president, under the conservative legal movement’s theories, the power to appoint and dismiss people in key roles.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/taunt-the-judiciary-legal-scholars-slam-invalid-maga-lawsuit-against-john-roberts/ar-AA1E3Z7a

Axios: Trump’s “pro-Hamas” purge could block foreign students from colleges

The Trump administration is discussing plans to try to block certain colleges from having any foreign students if it decides too many are “pro-Hamas,” senior Justice and State Department officials tell Axios.

  • A senior State Department official called the demonstrators it’s targeting “Hamasniks” — people the government claims have shown support for the terror group.
  • More than 300 foreign students have had their student visas revoked in the three weeks “Catch and Revoke” has been in operation, the official said. There are 1.5 million student visa-holders nationwide.
  • “Everyone is fair game,” the official said.

Exclusive: Trump’s “pro-Hamas” purge could block foreign students from colleges