A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Rule By Fait Accompli
The speed with which the Trump administration is moving to break laws, erode the powers of the legislative branch, and execute the most aggressive elements of its agenda is outpacing the judicial branch in case after case, effectively mooting efforts to secure due process, judicial review, and remedy the legal wrongs.
In Washington, D.C. yesterday, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell dismissed a motion by remnant elements of the U.S. Institute of Peace that sought to block the transfer of its privately owned headquarters to the federal government. Howell’s reasoning? The property had already been transferred on Saturday. Too bad for you.
In the case of the visa revocation of Rumeysa Ozturk, the pro-Palestinian Turkish national who is a student at Tufts University, a new government filing yesterday revealed that in the first 24 hours after her detention in suburban Boston she’d been moved through New Hampshire and Vermont before being flown to Louisiana. The law requires that a writ of habeas corpus to secure her release must be filed where she is physically held in detention at the time of the filing. Her swift movement through four different judicial districts left her lawyers guessing as to which court to go to try to secure her release and gave the government the chance to pick its preferred jurisdiction, far from where Ozturk lived and studied.
Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian Columbia University graduate, was subjected to similar jurisdiction-hopping immediately after his detention by the government before landing in Louisiana. It wasn’t quite fast enough. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled that Khalil’s lawyers moved quickly enough for his case to be heard in New Jersey, not Louisiana, as the Trump administration had sought, but also not New York, where he was picked up. A win of sorts for Khalil.
Even in cases where judges have moved fast, it’s not alway been enough. Perhaps the most dramatic example came with the Alien Enemies Act deportations. Weeks of planning and preparation nearly managed to avoid any judicial review until the deportation flights landed in El Salvador, as TPM’s Josh Kovensky extensively reported. The ACLU nonetheless managed to get wind of what was afoot and filed its case in the middle of the night to try to preempt the deportations. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of DC moved quickly to order the deportations put on hold. The Trump administration completed the flights and the transfer of the deportees to El Salvador anyway. Boasberg holds a hearing tomorrow on whether the administration violated his order.
Surveying the wreckage of the last two months – the mass purges of federal workers, the shuttering of entire agencies and departments, the impoundment of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding – the same pattern emerges. Judges are slowly awakening to it. At the margins, they may be able to counteract some it on a piecemeal basis. But for the most part, the courts are left to sift through the rubble after the fact. It’s why the judicial branch alone can’t save us. An independent judiciary is a necessary but insufficient bulwark against an authoritarian like Donald Trump.
Due Process Only Gets You So Far
The mistaken removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was aboard one of the three deportation flights from Texas to El Salvador on March 15, occurred despite a standing 2019 order by an immigration judge blocking his removal. The Trump administration has admitted in court that his removal was an “error,” attributed to “administrative error” and “oversight.”
In Related Immigration News …
- Momodou Taal, the pro-Palestinian student activist at Cornell University who had preemptively sued to block his deportation, voluntarily left the country after losing in court.
- Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, a former president of Costa Rica, says the Trump administration has revoked his visa after his public comments critical of the U.S. president.
- The Trump administration is pursuing agreements with several more third-party countries to accept U.S. deportees, the WSJ reports.
Good Read
The NYT’s Charlie Savage reports on the statutory provision that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is using to unilaterally revoke visas and the ways in which Congress had already reined in this power, to little apparent effect.
The Retribution: Ed Martin’s Troll-ish Probe Of Biden Pardons
For the last two months, acting D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin has been “investigating” whether President Joe Biden was competent at the time he issued pardons in the final days of his presidency, the NYT reports. Among the overt acts by Martin have been letters of inquiry to former Biden White House chief of staff Jeffrey D. Zients, Biden brother James Biden, and Biden sister-in-law Sara Biden.
Adam Schiff Puts A Hold On Ed Martin Nomination
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has placed an indefinite hold on the nomination of Ed Martin to be U.S. attorney in DC. Martin is currently the acting U.S. attorney.
Princeton Is The Latest Ivy Targeted By Trump
Princeton University says the Trump administration has suspended its research grant funding from the federal government.
Another Major Law Firm Strikes ‘Deal’ With Trump
The law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher – where former Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff works – has struck a preemptive deal with President Trump to avoid being targeted by another one of his executive orders. It’s not clear if Willkie was in Trump’s sights because of Emhoff’s presence or for other vindictive reasons.
Cory Booker Breaks Record For Longest Senate Stemwinder
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) finally yielded the Senate floor Tuesday evening, 25 hours and five minutes after he began his protest speech against the ravages of the Trump II presidency. In doing so, Booker surpassed the filibuster by Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) of the 1957 Civil Rights Act for the longest Senate speech ever.
Musk’s Effort To Buy Wisconsin Supreme Court Falls Short
Liberal Judge Susan Crawford scored an easy victory over conservative Judge Brad Schimel in the high-profile Wisconsin Supreme Court race – the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. The state’s high court will retain a liberal-leaning majority despite – or perhaps because of – the big spending and personal campaigning of Elon Musk.
GOP Holds Two House Seats
Two closely watched House races in Florida stayed in the Republican column, but by substantially narrower margins than Trump won those districts by in 2024:
- FL-01: Republican Jimmy Patronis won the seat held by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) over Democrat Gay Valimont
- FL-06: State Sen. Randy Fine (R) prevailed over Democrat Josh Weil for the seat previously held by Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Musk Revealed Criminal Probe At Campaign Rally
Tech billionaire and senior Trump adviser Elon Musk appeared to boast of advance knowledge of a planned arrest related to alleged Social Security fraud during an appearance on a live stream Monday night promoted to his more than 200 million social media followers, frustrating top law enforcement officials, multiple sources told ABC News.
The Purges
- HHS: Widespread purges across the varied agencies under the umbrella of HHS – including the CDC, FDA, and NIH – were implemented on Tuesday.
- NEH: DOGE is demanding cuts of as much as 70 to 80 percent of existing staff at the National Endowment for the Humanities.
- U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar of Maryland narrowed his order blocking the Trump administration from firing probationary employees. It now covers only 19 states and DC instead of applying nationwide.
- The Trump administration has issued a new “deferred resignation” offer to government workers at at least six federal agencies.
EXCLUSIVE
WaPo: “Members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, including White House national security adviser Michael Waltz, have conducted government business over personal Gmail accounts, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and interviews with three U.S. officials.”
The Trump II Clown Show
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was confirmed by the Senate as U.S. ambassador to NATO in a 52-45 vote.
Makes My Head Explode
The Trump White House is preparing a report on the cost of administering Greenland as a U.S. territory, the WaPo reports.
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