Unable or unwilling?
The constitution will not restrain the mad king (TPM):
GREENBELT, MARYLAND – The Trump administration defied a court order on Friday, telling a judge in writing and verbally that it could not provide information about a man that it admitted it wrongly deported to an El Salvador prison.
At the court hearing, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis for the District of Maryland repeatedly asked a DOJ lawyer to provide basic information about the whereabouts of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported on March 15.
“I have a simple question: Where is he?” Xinis implored more than once.
What’s missing in the AI image above of Donald Trump as Mad King George III is him giving U.S. courts the middle finger. As of Friday afternoon, we’re at that point (ABC News):
The federal judge overseeing the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, slammed the government’s handling of the case Friday and ordered the Justice Department to provide her with “daily updates” on its efforts to bring him back.
“From now until compliance, [I am] going to require daily statuses, daily updates,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said at a hearing in Maryland on Friday. “We’re going to make a record of what, if anything, the government is doing or not doing.”
The judge said she will require updates provided by an official with personal knowledge of Abrego Garcia’s status, on Abrego Garcia’s location, what steps the Trump administration has taken to facilitate his return, and what additional steps the government will take to return him.
Trump could return Abrego Garcia with a phone call to the government he’s contracted. But he doesn’t want to. The administration as already admitted his deportation was an administrative error. But was it? Trump want everyone bowing to his will. If Trump backs down in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that people like those he’s kidnapped to El Salvador get due process in accordance with constitutional law, he implies he’s bound by it. And that’s a no-no.
The Roberts court tiptoed around directly ordering Trump to return Abrego Garcia. Menawhile, Trump lawyers tap dance for all they’re worth to avoid lying to federal judges and pissing off Trump or AG Pam Bondi. At the White House, Trump wants to set up the confrontation with SCOTUS that will prove he’s broken the entire government to his feral will.
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