The Supreme Court’s late-night rebuke to Trump is extraordinary in more ways than one
Summary
First, it acted with startling speed—so quickly, in fact, that it published the order before Alito could finish writing his dissent; he was forced to note only that a “statement” would “follow.”
Relatedly, awkward phrasing in court’s order may imply that Alito—who first received the plaintiffs’ request—failed to refer it to the full court, as is custom, compelling the other justices to rip the case away from him.
Second, it is plain as day that the Supreme Court simply did not trust the Trump administration’s claims that it would not deport migrants over the weekend without due process.
Finally, and perhaps most obviously, it’s critical that only Thomas and Alito noted their dissents. When the court takes emergency action, justices don’t have to note their votes, but they usually do; we can probably assume that this order was 7–2. That would mean that Chief Justice John Roberts—along Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett—joined this rebuke to the Trump administration.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/supreme-court-blocks-deportations-donald-trump-alito-dissent.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
Suddenly the executive order that English is the official language of the United States became a lot more clear in it's purpose.
Probably, but that shit isn't even written in English. It's written in lawyer.
Have you noticed that with enough money you can't just commit a crime? Trump could pop in the Epstein video of him on every display in Times Square and the response would be "the alarming possibility that Trump engaged in potentially illegal acts."
The law has become so inscrutable that you literally can't know whether a crime has been committed until you have a jury trial. How is a soldier supposed to disobey illegal orders when he can't possibly know whether orders are legal or not?
I remember I wasn't too long out of the army when the stuff about waterboarding and abu graib came out. I would've refused orders to torture people had I been there. And I'd have probably gone to Leavenworth for years for disobeying orders.
It's time to just burn the whole system down.
I get what you're saying, but one of our foundational principles (at least until now) was that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So this notion that "we can't know if a crime has been committed until a jury says so" isn't a bug, it's a feature. Yes, it makes things complicated, but it is designed to minimize the chance that innocent people can be deprived of their liberties just because the government doesn't like them.
I'd counter part of that is that US law is based on common law, which is defined by prior court cases not just law - vs civil law which is only based on law.
There are issues with both of course, but, its common law that requires lawyers and knowledge of every court case and knowing what a judge in the 1800s thought a word means to win or lose a case.
I think the common law system of justice is deeply flawed and leads to this legalese where everything is vague and malleable with no certainty
A Tsunami of executive orders... this one passed me by. Thanks for pointing it out.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/designating-english-as-the-official-language-of-the-united-states/
It’s kinda amazing how this was something people debated for a long time, talked about potential benefits and consequences, tossed around different reasonable ways to mitigate harm that might be done, what the point or use would be..
Then Trump just signs a piece of paper, and it’s barely even newsworthy before we move to the next thing.
Thomas and Alito still being complete Trump puppets
They are criminally corrupt, and deserve to spend life in prison. The fact these whores sit atop the highest court shows how much of a banana republic kleptocracy the USA is.
hey now. there's no need to use that language here. sex work is difficult and involved, and many whores work tirelessly when they're not getting paid to organise and fight for a better future through political engagement. they're less like whores and more like vampires
Vampires who put out for money
It’s shocking that they would associate the good name and reputation of whores with the current Supreme Court
It is kind of surprising that all three of the trump-appointed justices went along with the opinion. They’re no heroes by any means, but I’m still relieved when they decide to do the bare minimum. Really, it just shows how depraved Thomas and Alito are.
My gut thought, is they both had all of their dirty laundry aired during their confirmations, and haven't been in long enough to really break too many laws. Thomas and Alito are as dirty as they come and have nothing to lose trying to protect themselves. They're at different parts of their careers, and T and A have skeletons.
Honestly, if they and people in government had done the bare minimum to uphold the law, much of this would not have happened. This administration has been working in legal gray areas since day one. I recently learned of the phrase "state of exception" and it fits a lot of what they're doing and how they're doing it.
It’s all Clarence knows. He couldn’t practice law if he wanted to.
Wasn't he a judge for barely a year before getting appointed? Then for three decades he just agreed with whatever evil shit Scalia said. He really might not know how to be a judge.
He was a questionable pick back then, from my memory the Dem Senate grilled him so hard for his personal life that he hit the bench with a vindetta and has never made a good judicial decision in 3 decades. I believe he was also a hand pick from the heritage foundation, so he came with a TON of baggage and has always been this way as far I can remember. I'm no court scholar I just know Clarence Thomas is an asshole.
Sycophants.
Why not? Those
bribesgratuities don't pay themselves, you know...."A majority of justices signaled that they no longer trust the administration to comply with the law"
"...the government’s unlawful efforts..."
"...the government lied to a federal judge..."
"...this president will gleefully defy judicial orders..."
It's all topsy-turvy. A.K.A. "coup". And not just any coup, a fascist coup. Who still thinks the comparison to Germany in 1933 is exaggerated? It isn't. But maybe we can still influence where it goes from there.
Also, fuck Alito and Thomas with a rusty pipe.
Years ago, I was calling out the Bush administration for following the Nazi playbook, and was constantly berated and insulted, and slapped with "Godwin's Law," which has been sufficiently proven to be Nazi counter-propaganda designed to silence critics, while the inexorable crawl to Nazism continued.
Hell, even Godwin came out and said "Oh yeah, these guys are totally acting like Nazis. Go ahead and compare them."
Everyboy immediately thinks of the Holocaust, that's why. The US isn't quite there - yet. All the more reason to point out the similarities to the beginnings.
I think Godwin's law was meant for like arguing about tabs vs spaces, or other low stakes things.
But as discussed elsewhere, conservatives have abysmal literacy and analytical skills, so it's not surprising they wouldn't understand when a comparison is merited.
The true meaning of it got perverted into meaning that whenever a poster used a Nazi reference to describe the behavior of politicians, it violated Godwin's Law. I was constantly accused of it whenever I mentioned that the Bush administration was obviously following the Nazi Playbook.
The fact that they rushed their decision before Alito's dissent is amazing. They knew that Alito could take his time writing it, giving HitlerPig cover to keep deporting while this decision remained buried. Instead, they basically said Fuck You to his attempt to collude with the Nazis. It was a direct slap in the face by 7 of his colleagues.
I’m glad some of the justices finally located their consciences, but I’m afraid this will end up being too little too late.
They didn't. They just don't want to nullify their own power
I mean, that's exactly why the checks and balances were set up this way. The founding fathers assumed no one branch would want to concede to another. Really it's congress fucking it all up right now.
Yeah, congress refusing to check Trump has really allowed everything to snowball. They’re abdicating a LOT of power, purely because Trump has an (R) next to his name.
This is a good point you raise. Even so, this works in the people's favor.
Having the branches of government fight amongst themselves is kinda the idea.
It's when they all fall in line behind one man that you get 1930s Germany.
Would I prefer they fight over how best to improve life for all of us and not how best to oppress people? Sure. But we're talking choosing between lesser evils here.
I always look to what people actually do, not what they describe as their reasons. It doesn't matter if you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, as long as you do the right thing. We have so much disengenuousness these days, look to their actions, not their words.
Honestly it wouldn't be too little to late if the reps in the house and senate grew a spine and pushed back as well. But I think that they have had it too cushy for too long and don't actually know how to govern.
You'd think this would escalate things rather than be an actual way to avoid repercussions. Would the same breakdown in law apply if a domestic abuse victim got a restraining order in the Southern District and then their abuser approached them in the Northern District?
It's like your mom said you can't spend the night at a friend's house, so you don't tell her and spend the night at a different friend's house.
It's pretty much the same strategy Trump used to avoid serious penalties from his New York cases: just move to Florida.
That's where the constitutional crisis comes in because they aren't listening to court orders. The ones who'd enforce a court order are the ones defying it. "Who watches the watchers?"
This piece of shit Alito actually wrote this in his dissent, presumably with a straight face: "The papers before us, while alleging that the appli- cants were in imminent danger of removal, provided little concrete support for that allegation."
When do we drag em from they’re billionaire-paid-for homes and show them democracy
But...French-style, right?
France might be the most democratic place on Earth right now. When the government does something unpopular, buckle the fuck up.
Let's say "French inspired". I'm sure we're creative enough to come up with something fun and unique. I'd argue using guns is the defacto American style, albeit not as much flare as a public guillotining.
Lynching is pretty standard fare for mob justice in the US. It even happened to white people.
"The Tuskegee Institute has recorded the lynchings of 3,446 Blacks and the lynchings of 1,297 Whites, all of which occurred between 1882 and 1968, with the peak occurring in the 1890s"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States#Other_ethnicities
A lynching is visually terrifying, sends a strong message, and gets the job done. That could be our thing.
There were some Nazis that gathered downtown in my city the other day, and they could have been a great choice for alpha testing.
It's out of alpha. We are at least at 0.8.4
I think your link may not be correct
Thanks! I hate Firefox on mobile at times. I fixed it.
The Italians can also act as inspiration regarding how to treat fascists....
Literally what the rest of the world has been waiting for you to do for nearly a decade. We’re not holding our breath.
Y'know. We are trying. Millions of us. I don't think I have ever blamed an entire people for the actions of one of their criminals.
Sounds like something trump would do.
Trying how? Like… doing the same thing people did during the Bush era? Making cute signs and doing parades?
Really? Say what you want. Tell everyone in plain words, no hemming and hawing. What do you want? You want a mob if millions running around the United states are just hurting people.?
Say it. You won't. You are being insulting, small and trying to make yourself look like a tough guy. You wouldn't have the courage to stand in front of a u. S cop, much less do what your suggesting , tough guy
Let me tell you something you won't believe , but I KNOW.
He will be jailed. It will happen.
Now you can either say what you mean using all the words you're thinly veiling, or have the courage of your convictions.
Me? I'll go back to protecting my family.
Democrats will never allow a president to face consequences for their crimes. I doubt Trump will ever spend a day behind bars.
I hope they prove me wrong!
Please!!! Prove this fellow wrong!
(Canadian hands clasped tightly)
I'm with you, buddy
The sooner the better
They absolutely would have defied the lower court's order and just flown them to El Salvador. Then, when confronted, they could claim some sort of misunderstanding/incompetency. The worst that could be done to them would be to force them to ask El Salvador to return the migrants, to which the government of El Salvador just says "no."
It's better to seek forgiveness than ask for permission.
I’ll believe that this was effective when it’s actually confirmed that orangeboi and DoJ + ICE did not in fact, ignore the order. My assumption at this point is that they will do it anyways.
Does he though?
I never thought I'd see an ally in Roberts, Gorsh, Kava-beer, or boney carrot! Nice to see! Welcome to the resistance!
Sounds like the Supreme Court has been overly stressed of late and making poor decisions. I know of a cozy little retreat down in El Salvador in which they can get some R&R and a fresh perspective.