Judge loses it, demolishes Trump in court - Brian Tyler Cohen

[TexasTowelie]

Legal Breakdown episode 660: Trump loses case regarding 5-year-old Liam Ramos.

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BTC: You're watching the Legal Breakdown.

Glenn, we have a bombshell update here. Everybody's heard the story about 5-year-old Liam Ramos. This young boy who's wearing a bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack when he was detained and then used his bait to lure his father out of the house. We now have an update as far as the court proceedings are concerned. Can you explain what happened in court?

GK: Brian, an order was just issued by a federal judge in Texas where this father and son are being detained after being, you know, whisked away, being taken into custody in Minnesota, whisked away to a detention center in Texas and a federal court judge named Fred Biery just issued this brief order. I have to read the entirety of it to our viewers because it is unlike anything I have ever seen before.

It reads, "Before the court is the petition of asylum seeker Adrian Conejo Arias and his five-year-old son for protection of the great writ of habeas corpus." Let me pause there. The great writ of habeas corpus is when a judge commands the government to bring me the body of the prisoner and I the judge will decide if you are confining that person lawfully or unlawfully, constitutionally or unconstitutionally just to give our viewers the context. “They the father and son seek nothing more than some modicum of due process and the rule of law.”

The government, the Trump administration has responded. The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children. This court and others regularly send undocumented people to prison and orders them deported, but they do so by proper legal procedures.

Apparent also is the government's ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence. 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson enumerated grievances against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation.

Among others were these were the grievances we had against an authoritarian king. One, he has sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people. Sound familiar? Two, he has excited domestic insurrection among us. Sound familiar? Three, for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. Sound familiar? And four, he has kept among us in times of peace standing armies without the consent of our legislatures. Sound familiar?

The judge goes on, "We the people are hearing echoes of that history." And then there's that pesky inconvenience called the Fourth Amendment. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated. Shall not be violated. And no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and persons or things to be seized.

The judge continues, "Civic's lessons to the government." the Trump administration. He's giving he's announcing that I'm giving the Trump administration a civics lesson. Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. That is called the fox guarding the hen house. The constitution requires an independent judicial officer. Accordingly, the court finds that the Constitution of these United States trumps this administration's detention of petitioner Adrian Conejo Arias and his minor son Liam. The great writ and release from detention are granted pursuant to the attached judgment.

But then he has a couple of other things to add for the Trump administration's benefit. Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, their perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency and the rule of law be damned.

Yes, he's calling out the Trump administration. He then wraps it up.

Ultimately, petitioners may petitioner the father and son. Petitioners may because of the arcane United States immigration system returned to their home country involuntarily or by self deportation. But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than is currently in place.

He finishes with a quote. Philadelphia, September 17th, 1787. "Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have? A republic if you can keep it with a judicial finger in the constitutional dyke. It is so ordered."

Brian, if that doesn't give others, as it gave me, justice goosebumps, then nothing ever will.

BTC: So, Glenn, in terms of next steps here, what is the next move for Liam Ramos? I mean, there was a lot of attention on this 5-year-old boy. Um, again, not just because of his age, but the way that the administration used him as bait to lure out his father, who, by the way, and I want to talk about this in a separate question, by the way, was going through the legal process, had presented himself at a port of entry, was doing all of the things that Republicans claim they want immigrants to do, and yet that apparently wasn't enough for this administration. But that notwithstanding, because I want to get back to that, what are next steps here for Liam Ramos and his father?

GK: Judge Biery gave the Trump administration, the United States government until Tuesday to execute this order and release both father and son. And there is reporting that they are making arrangements together with their lawyer to reunite with the wife/mother who herself is pregnant who and who actually watched as ICE officers used the five-year-old Liam as “bait” to lure the father out of the house. And mind you, Brian, they were just on their way home from Liam's preschool when all of this happened.

So it sounds like they have until Tuesday to release them to comply with the great rid of habeas corpus that Judge Biery just granted. And you know, God help them if they don't because I have a feeling Judge Biery will have some more to say and perhaps some contempt orders to issue if there is any kind of a delay.

BTC: On the issue of contempt orders, how much of an impediment is that for this administration recognizing that the pardon power for Trump is plenary and he's wasted no time in exercising it every chance he gets?

GK: You know, it seems like contempt is a bit of a hollow threat. We reach rec recently had Judge Schultz say that the Trump administration, DHS, CBP, ICE have violated more than 100 court orders in more than 70 immigration cases.

And he began to threaten contempt proceedings, but then he backed off when in the one case where he made those observations the government actually gave up. They had violated a number of orders, but they threw up their hands and they said, "Okay, we will release this particular petitioner, this particular immigrant." And the judge said, "Okay, then I have to make good on my promise because I put in my order where I observed that, you know, DHS had violated more than a hundred court orders. I put in my order if you stipulated to his release I would vacate or at least put off for the time being any contempt proceedings.” But I also don't think Judge Schultz is done yet after observing, you know, more than a hundred instances of contemptuous behavior.

So I but I don't feel Brian, like contempt is much of a deterrent. We've heard it threatened by Judge Boasberg in DC who by the way continues to pursue it. We've heard it from Judge Xinis who was presiding in Maryland over the Abrego Garcia deportation case, but it has yet to be deployed. And I'm not sure why.

I recall vividly when Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington DC held the EPA, the entire Environmental Protection Agency in contempt and many of its officers for violating his court orders. For gosh sakes, we need to get back to that because there needs to be some deterrent value to the Trump administration for repeatedly, you know, cavalierly, almost gleefully violating court orders.

BTC: What about if contempt isn't going to work, threats to the law licenses of these attorneys who are in contempt, recognizing that like, you know, they'll get pardoned, but they still need some type of livelihood. And so can you talk about the other side of this thing which is okay even if contempt doesn't work their law licenses could you know could be at risk.

GK: Yeah a twist on an old saying right justice delayed is justice denied. I would say deterrence delayed is deterrence denied. Why do I say that? Because judges can refer attorneys who are in contempt or who have violated the law or who have engaged in unethical practices before the court.

Judges can refer them to the state bar, you know, to which they are licensed for ethics hearings and for possible sanctions up to and including disbarment, but that takes a very long time. You know, it can literally take a year, two years, maybe three years for all of that to come to fruition. It took a very long time for both the New York State Bar and the DC bar to disbar Rudy Giuliani for his unethical behavior in support of his former client Donald Trump. So that's kind of deterrence delayed is deterrence denied.

BTC: And finally, Glenn, I want to ask about the issue that I brought up a few questions ago, which is the fact that Liam Ramos and his father, these are immigrants going through the process that Republicans claim that they want immigrants to go through. And so, can you just speak on the fact that even that apparently wasn't good enough as the Overton window shifts and as the goalposts move further and further out where you have people that are doing exactly what Republicans had claimed they want them to do, presented a port of entry, claim asylum, go through the legal process, go to their court hearings, and even that apparently isn't enough and is grounds for ICE to come in and just, you know, not only traumatize the kids, but still detain and try to deport them.

GK: Yeah. You know, consistency and hypocrisy mean absolutely nothing to today's Republican party. They don't really care about whether these immigrants are, you know, in compliance with the with the sort of regulatory and statutory structure that we have in place for them to pursue asylum claims.

You know, this administration doesn't care if they're doing everything right. This administration doesn't care if they're doing everything we've asked them to do.

And you know, this to me feels a lot like Donald Trump's first term when within the first week he signed that hateful Muslim ban. And what did that do? Literally, people who took off in airplanes and were in full compliance with everything the United States had asked them to do. When those planes landed in the United States, they were now illegals because they were violating a hateful Muslim ban that was signed into effect by Donald Trump. Of course, it went down in flames four times until they could finally get a watered down ban pushed through the courts. But they don't care.

And it's not a surprise that they are willing to take asylum seekers who have done everything that our regulations and our laws require them to do to be in compliance and just violate the promise we made to them and try to unlawfully deport them. It's not a surprise because we also see ICE officers out in the street every day violating state law by assaulting citizens, documented and undocumented immigrants, battering citizens, documented and undocumented immigrants. Violating their constitutional rights against an unlawful seizure of all of those same people.

So if they're willing to violate state law, federal law, and the United States Constitution, is it a shock that they're also willing to violate immigration rules, regulations, and statutes?

BTC: Perfectly put. For those who are watching right now, if you'd like to stay on top of our legal analysis as this news continues to break, and we'll stay on top of this case along with all other cases, please make sure to subscribe to both of our channels. I'm going to put those links right here on the screen. It's the best way to support our work, and it is and always will be 100% free. So again, if you're not yet subscribed, please go ahead and hit the subscribe button. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen…

GK: …and I'm Glenn Kirschner.

BTC: You're watching the Legal Breakdown.