decided April 10, 2025
On March 15, 2025, federal officials forcibly removed Mr. Garcia, who was an American resident, from the United States into El Salvador, where he was immediately moved into a Salvadoran prison. In a court proceeding to obtain his release from that prison, and to obtain his return to the United States, the federal officials admitted that their forced removal of Mr. Garcia to El Salvador had been a “mistake.” They also admitted that their removal of Mr. Garcia to El Salvador violated a lawful court order made Mr. Garcia’s behalf. In this case, the Court unanimously allowed the trial court’s injunction proceeding against those officials to proceed, over the officials’ adamant, and widely publicized objections that the trial court had no jurisdiction over them. The Court explained that the trial court’s preliminary injunction against the officials that required them to do what they can (short of resorting to military force against El Salvador) to eventually return Mr. Garcia to the United States, was “proper[…].”
Comment: The Trump Administration’s refrain, since his election to a second term as President, that he can now declare what the law requires, and what the law does not allow, all without review by Congress, or by federal courts, has now been firmly, and unanimously rejected by every member of the United States Supreme Court. Good for them! The representative democracies envisioned by the United States Constitution have been strengthened against the Trump Administration’s threats. Ms. Noem, in particular, faces jail time if she refuses to obey the trial court’s “proper” orders.
RECENT RULINGS 