Donald Trump is portrayed as unlikely to correct politically abusive use of the Justice Department, and Todd Blanche is described as worsening matters while seeking the permanent job. Despite this, meaningful restraints have emerged from courts and congressional Republicans. Federal district court judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed the indictment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia after the Trump administration improperly deported him to El Salvador. The Supreme Court ordered the government to facilitate his return to contest removal proceedings, but the administration delayed and interpreted the order narrowly. The government then returned him in handcuffs under indictment, and the case is characterized as a pretext for payback. The judge dismissed it as incoherent and politically motivated.
"There was never any chance Donald Trump would self-correct his gleeful political abuse of the Justice Department. And despite initial hopes that Todd Blanche - once a thoroughly decent and respected prosecutor in the Southern District of New York - might restore some ballast, the acting attorney general has only made it worse as he panders to the boss in an effort to win the permanent job."
"But sometimes our system is capable of imposing meaningful, if imperfect, restraints. And in the wake of a series of jaw-dropping acts of corruption by the Justice Department, we've seen resistance from two key governmental institutions: the courts and, more unexpectedly, congressional Republicans."
"The Supreme Court eventually ordered the government to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return to the United States to enable him to properly contest his removal proceedings. The Trump administration dragged its feet and adopted a myopic interpretation of "facilitate" until it stumbled on a nifty solution: We'll bring him back all right - in handcuffs, under indictment."
"The criminal case against Abrego Garcia was an obvious pretext, an overhyped, incoherent mess born from a desire for payback. As I wrote in this space in June 2025, "because the administration got caught in a screwup, and then chose to flip off the Supreme Court rather than to faithfully comply with its directive, they created a political mess. The indictment became the easy way to mop it up." Judge Waverly, in dismissing the case, saw it the same way: "The"
#justice-department #political-prosecutions #judicial-oversight #immigration-due-process #congressional-republicans
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