Via Taegan Goddard:
Taegan Goddard Verified account
@politicalwireFolks, while you were sleeping we have a true Constitutional crisis brewing… this is a BFD
A federal judge in New York blocked deportations nationwide late Saturday of those detained on entry to the United States after an executive order from President Trump targeted citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Judge Ann Donnelly of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn granted a request from the American Civil Liberties Union to stop the deportations after determining that the risk of injury to those detained by being returned to their home countries necessitated the decision.
Minutes after the judge’s ruling in New York, another came in Alexandria when U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a temporary restraining order to block for seven days the removal of any green-card holders being detained at Dulles International Airport. Brinkema’s action also ordered that lawyers have access to those held there because of the ban.
Several hours after the judicial rulings, the Department of Homeland Security said it would continue to implement Trump’s executive order. [emphasis mine, because this sh*t needs to be emphasized]
Steve Newton has been saying that this would happen – that Trump would ignore judges and their rulings. I agreed with him that it was coming, I just didn’t realize how soon it would happen.
If judges’ rulings can be ignored are we still a nation of laws?
BFD, indeed.
“If judges’ rulings can be ignored are we still a nation of laws?”
That depends on who you ask. Yes I mean that. If you ask Trump’s brownshirts, any judge that disagrees with an order from Trump is “making their laws” and judges don’t make laws!! Thus their legitimacy and rulings are discounted.
For the rest of us, yes we are a nation of laws but we are going to have to prove it.
Oh, you’re right! I’d forgotten that “activist judges” go hand in hand with “fake news” and “alternative facts”.
The sheer number of comments I read last night from people marginalizing this as “Oh it’s just a temporary ban” “We need better security, then the ban will be lifted!” in complete ignorance of reality. “We need to keep our country SAFE!”
SERIOUSLY. WTF. We’re barring LEGAL CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES from coming home! I’m just saying, if we banned white Christians from entering for 120 days, let’s see how fast the “Oh it’s just TEMPORARY” crowd loses their shit.
We have a 2+ year vetting process for refugees/immigrants. No person who has come to the US from the any of the countries on the banned list have harmed an American. ALL of the countries on the not-banned list have the following in common: Known state sponsors of terrorists that have committed acts of mass murder against Americans + Trump business connections.
This is America 2017.
By ignoring the judges’ rulings Trump is undermining one branch of our government.
This too, is deliberate. In fact, I’d say that ignoring judicial rulings was part of the plan. You know like, 1) sign EO banning people from certain countries, 2) be sure to include people with green cards – approved by our flippin’ government, and 3) when judges place a stay on the EO, ignore them.
And there’s more…
Damon Silvers
@DamonSilvers
Attys at Dulles with a fed court order entitling them to see detainees told by CBP “it’s not going to happen” Attys seeking contempt order
Guess we’re losing our Judicial branch of government. Actually, we’ve lost two branches, since the Republican Congress had handed over legislating to the Executive branch.
Here’s a coupla sobering micro-essays (not sure what to call these — someone going off on Twitter, LT for long tweet?) from a Bosnian political science / international affairs expert about the White House’s cunning use of race and asking why is no one treating this as a constitutional crisis. (https://twitter.com/JasminMuj)
https://twitter.com/JasminMuj/status/825787716717670402
https://twitter.com/JasminMuj/status/825450976920363008 (click “show more”)
It’s rather alarming but that does not make it any less plausible. He lived through the disolution of the former Yugoslavia and ensuing wars and has been studying it ever since.
It’s important to note exactly how the Trump Administration is spinning this via Kellyanne Conway. Here are the main points via Fox:
The judge who issued the emergency stay is “an Obama appointee” and therefore cannot be trusted (nor, it is implied and confirmed by DHS actions, does that judge’s ruling have to be obeyed).
“That’s a small price to pay” for keeping us safe. Expect to see this theme repeated over and over–each step will be “a small price to pay,” until there no longer remain venues for resistance.
Obama did it first. It is important to spin such things as a difference of degree and not kind. Yes–and we have to acknowledge this–President Obama did expand and extend executive authority in unhealthy ways, and–yes–many people remained silent about those excesses. But the people in this administration are not correcting those excesses, they are expanding them. It is a difference of kind and not degree.
We should defer to the President’s superior knowledge–“The President and Congress will always have information we do not.” This is one hair short of the argument that will start being made sometime in the next two weeks–I cannot tell you why I am doing what I am doing, you must simply trust your government.
News organizations should have fired the reporters and pundits who did not predict Trump’s victory. We need to start labeling Press derangement syndrome when we see it. They are not going to let this go because they realize–correctly–that right now the press more than the Democrats is the opposition party. It must be ridiculed, pressured, silenced.
The increase in vulgarity is also intentional. “I ripped them [the press] a new one.” I know this might sound bizarre coming from me (who can be as vulgar as anyone), but the systematic Trump Administration desensitization to language is a calculated strategy as well. Get used to the sleazing down of government communications in the guise of plain speaking. Mr. Trump has already successfully normalized his own vulgarity–now it will be slowly introduced into administration spokespeople.
Here is the link for the Fox story (if you care): http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/29/conway-defends-trump-immigration-ban-says-ripped-press-new-one-for-bias-mistakes.html
It is important also to note that the reason the immigration ban was introduced in the way it was (with the timing) is part of a coherent strategy. It occurred the way it did to (successfully) relegate the story of kicking the Director of National Intelligence and the Joint Chiefs of Staff out of the National Security Council while appointing Alt-reich Breitbart Chief Steve Bannon to a permanent position on the body that actually determines our reactions to potential threats.
Bannon believes strongly that the US and Western Europe are poised at the brink of a great, bloody, worldwide war against Islam (not just Islamic radicals, but all of Islam). He fervently believes that we need to speed up engagement in this war. This is not a metaphor: he means a literal World War 3, and this is what the Trump military buildup is about.
I gave your comment a thumbs up, Steve, but I wish we had a button that showed a face with tears streaming down its face while wailing.
This is indeed a BFD, Trump and his minions have essentially rejected the rule of law as we know it, I dare say this is the start. As for the way it’s presented it’s a vintage propaganda technique and no doubt a precursor to expanded efforts to sway the public. I’m not tearful, just ready to fight.