Well, the Court giveth, and the Court taketh away. Today SCOTUS decided it was okay to let Trump remove nearly 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants from Temporary Protected Status so that he can go ahead and deport them.
At issue before the Supreme Court was a subsequent designation made in October 2023 and extended in January just before Donald Trump took office. It is set to expire in October 2026.
In February, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sought to unwind those determinations, meaning the protections would expire this year instead.
California-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen blocked the move, citing concerns that the decision was based in part on racial animus.
Noem’s actions meant the affected immigrants face “possible imminent deportation,” he wrote.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the administration’s emergency application that the courts could not review Noem’s decision.
And why can’t the courts review Noem’s decision? Oh, never mind. This is from the New York Times:
The justices announced they would allow the Trump administration to end the protections pending appeal of the case, potentially allowing the administration to move ahead with deportations. The justices also clarified, however, that they would preserve the ability of individual immigrants to bring some legal challenges if the government tried to cancel their work permits or to remove them from the country.
And do the justices seriously think Trump’s people are going to allow these Venezuelans to bring legal challenges before they’re loaded on a plane to go who knows where? If so, are those justices stupid? Oh, never mind.
Trump calls for probe into Springsteen’s involvement in Harris presidential campaign
President Donald Trump early on Monday said he would call for an investigation into musician Bruce Springsteen’s endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential run.“I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network. “Candidates aren’t allowed to pay for ENDORSEMENTS, which is what Kamala did, under the guise of paying for entertainment.”
What can one say but, what the bleep? Trump is pissed at The Boss for dissing him during performances in London. Trump is also calling for investigations into several other celebrities:
President Donald Trump has called for a “major investigation” into celebrities who aided Kamala Harris‘ 2024 election campaign, including Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, and Bono, saying their appearances were potentially illegal contributions.
Trump had some celebrity endorsers, also, and some of them appeared at his rallies. Some people don’t know when to leave well enough alone. I believe celebrity endorsements go back to when Al Jolson endorsed Warren Harding.
In other news, the Terrible Horrible Budget Bill did make it out of committee. It has to be voted on in the House, and then who knows what the Senate will do with it. The best commentary I’ve seen on this is by Paul Krugman: Attack of the Sadistic Zombies.
I have no doubt that the accusation that Harris "bribed" celebrities for their support is false. Taking that as a fact (in the absence of proof that money changed hands) what Trump is presenting to MAGA is an excuse to disbelieve the true things Bruce Springsteen said about life under Trump.
I think there are other elements – scary ones. IMO, Trump is serious about "investigations" that he wants to lead to charges that he wants to become incarcerations. Which I've previously dismissed because Bruce, and Liz Cheney and President Obama and General Milley and James Comey and Taylor Swift and Oprah Winfrey have not broken any laws. But Trump has sent clear signals he wants DOJ to go after them. Is Trump that stupid or is there something I'm missing?
Most Americans (and I was sleepwalking on this issue) think that if there's no evidence of a crime, any suspect will go free. The less evidence, the sooner they will be out and the cheaper it will be. The calls for a "military tribunal" indicate to me that somebody in Trump's orbit have realized that there's no way they can keep any of Trump's enemies locked up for long according the criminal system defined in the Constitution. They want something extra-Constitutional. It's not "against" the Constitution because it's not IN the Constitution. It's an addition that would never be codified as an amendment. My expectation is that the "jury" would be a three-person tribunal personally selected by Trump. What could be more fair?
Is this a rea; thing? As real as taking over Canada and Greenland, IMO. What about the courts – it's something that any federal judge would throw out, given the SPECIFIC formula written into the US Constitution. I agree. Even the Roberts court would reject the attempt. So how does Trump bridge the gap?
Trump has to reach the point he completely rejects Article Three as applying to any part of agencies administered by the executive. The showdown is inevitable. The High Court will not give Trump everything he wants everytime he wants it. The most critical issues that Trump needs to establish Trumpist royalty, the court will likely deny Trump. Suspension of Elections, suspension of Habeus Corpus for US civilians, and authority to use the military within the US as Trump's stormtroopers.
With no evidence, I offer this opinion. The USSC cares very little about the rights of foreigners in the US. They have rights under the Constitution, but the court will defend those rights on a VERY limited basis. (Garcia being sent to hell without due process and in violation of a court order was too much. We will see how directly the USSC calls Trump out for the middle finger he's showing.) I'm guessing the majority view of SCOTUS will respect the Bill of Rights as applied to US citizens. I think they won't allow jury trials to be a luxury only offered to rich white people. And if there's nothing to prevent Trump from using the military to commit domestic atrocities, and if Trump demands that right after he's declared the High Court "is not the boss of me", to quote South Park, there will be no incentive for the Supreme Court to placate Trump.
What may be Trump's downfall is pacing his coup. He's getting into a confrontation with the USSC early in the first year, well before the mid-terms. He also may have tanked the economy all the way into the mid-terms. And the adverse effects of much of what Musk did to the federal government will hit us before mid-terms. I think FEMA is gone. I think the National Weather Service will be crippled. Millions will lose health care in red states. A properly paced coup would have pretended to take the steps that would leave POTUS in charge of Congress for four years. The most unpopular cuts would have taken effect after the mid-terms. Trump needs more time to prepare defenses for the coup he has to try – it's gonna peak long before he's ready.
Brian Eno perfectly explains the selfishness of the super rich