US Supreme Court issues surprise rebuke of Trump - Brian Tyler Cohen

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Legal Breakdown episode 508: ‪@GlennKirschner2‬ discusses the Supreme Court rebuking Trump.

Transcript:

you're watching the legal breakdown
Glenn We've got major major breaking
news here out of the US Supreme Court
All eyes have been on this case
regarding the Trump administration
wrongly deporting Abrao Garcia um to El
Salvador The Trump administration itself
uh admitted conceded that it was an
administrative error And so we've been
waiting to see what would happen The
Supreme Court has weighed in Can you
explain what just happened Yeah Brian A
little bit of life was just breathed
back into the rule of law by the Supreme
Court They ordered the Trump
administration to return Abrego Garcia
to the United States pronto They didn't
use the word pronto That's my
interpretation But a lower court judge
had ruled that listen the Trump
administration not only wrongfully
deported Mr Garcia violating his
constitutional due process rights of
notice and opportunity to be heard But
they also did it in violation of a
federal court order issued back in 2019
prohibiting the United States government
from deporting Mr Garcia to El Salvador
precisely where they sent him And not
only to El Salvador but to a notoriously
dangerous prison in El Salvador Now our
viewers may remember just a day or two
ago Chief Justice John Roberts put an
administrative stay on that lower court
order to return Mr Garcia right away But
they just lifted that stay and they
basically affirmed the lower court's
order and they directed the Trump
administration to return Mr Garcia to
the United States I do want to flag for
our viewers one thing that's a little
bit of a curiosity And now the case is
going to be sent back down to the trial
court judge to address this curiosity
The trial court judge ordered the Trump
administration to quote facilitate and
effectuate the return of Abrago Garcia
to the United States And the chief
justice observed in this very short
four-page opinion that the order
properly required the Trump
administration to facilitate Abrego
Garcia's release from custody in El
Salvador and to ensure that his case is
handled as it would have been handled
had he not been improperly sent to El
Salvador But he says the the scope of
the term effectuate in the district
court's order is however unclear and the
district court needs to clarify what it
meant by effectuate without sort of
unduly interfering in the executive
branch's power and authority to engage
in foreign affairs All of that sounds
like legal mumbo jumbo even to somebody
who has lived a life of legal mumbo
jumbo like me for 30 years So I I don't
think that's going to be a major hangup
The important uh takeaway from this
Supreme Court ruling is that when the
Trump administration essentially said we
made a mistake and we don't care We're
not bringing him back They went so far
as to say in court "It's impossible for
us to bring him back from El Salvador
which is effing laughable right?" Quite
frankly the Supreme Court just called
them out on it and said "No you will
bring Mr Garcia back." That is a victory
for the rule of law and for the
constitutional due process guarantee
found in the fifth amendment Now I just
want to flag here that we are in a
moment where if the administration opts
not to comply with the Supreme Court
then this could be at least the legal
based constitutional crisis that we've
been discussing I I would maintain that
we're very clearly in a constitutional
crisis right now just by virtue of the
ways in which this administration is
weaponizing the federal government
against its political opponents and just
more broadly abusing the government uh
uh on Donald Trump's behalf But right
here would be the first instance where
the Trump uh administration does have
the opportunity to overtly defy a
Supreme Court ruling if they opt not to
comply Is that correct Yeah that is
right Brian And I am loathed to predict
what the Trump administration might do
in the face of a court order that Donald
Trump really doesn't like But I'm going
to venture a guess that when they
directly say you admitted you were wrong
you not only violated this man's due
process rights but you defied a lawfully
entered federal court order that he not
be deported to El Salvador I don't think
this is the court order that the Trump
administration is going to want to defy
Yeah But it does it does become a
challenge And here's why Brian Because
if all of this was happening
domestically for example if Mr Garcia
wasn't deported to El Salvador but he
was being held somewhere in a a federal
prison facility somewhere in the United
States then the law would say that the
United States Marshall Service shall
enforce all federal court orders However
that gets very dicey when somebody is
being held in a foreign country It
really complicates matters So I I just
don't think this is the hill that
they're going to want to die on But look
it is the Trump administration They are
lawless Trump has largely been acting
more like a mob boss than a president
signing unconstitutional executive
orders one after another out of the Oval
Office So I have a feeling we're going
to know right quick whether the Trump
administration is ready to sort of you
know really launch a full-blown
constitutional crisis and defy the
lawful authority of a co-equal branch of
government the judiciary You know I tend
to agree with you I don't think that
this is going to be the hill that they
opt to die on because I think that
there's going to be other cases that
they want to expend more of their
political capital on But at the same
time I could see I could see a rationale
for them opting to dig in here because
they have made immigration a cornerstone
of this administration That was a big
reason in part why Trump won in November
of 2024 And so if he's able to dig in
here and prove himself the victor in a
scenario where he can just opt to deport
people without any due process to any
country anywhere anywhere anytime he
wants regardless of the facts and he's
successful then that will embolden him
to know that there's no guard rails on
the one issue that he benefits from most
So there is a rationale for him to want
to do it Although I I would tend to
agree with you just by going with my gut
here that this is not going to be uh
where they opt to defy the US Supreme
Court Yeah And I have a feeling let let
me look for the point of light here dim
though it may be First of all the
Supreme Court did the right thing by the
Constitution and by Mr Garcia But the
other thing is if Donald Trump directly
defies an order from the Supreme Court
um to bring someone back that they admit
they unlawfully deported I think Donald
Trump may permanently lose all hope that
the Supreme Court will rule in his favor
in the future because they granted him
absolute presidential immunity But you
know what They granted it and they can
revoke it They can revisit it And if
this administration and this president
defies this Supreme Court order I have a
feeling Donald Trump will have more
problems on his hands than he may remedy
by not bringing Mr Garcia back Glenn is
there any indication as to how quickly
the Trump administration is being forced
to move here You know there's no
indication but I think the the tenor of
this opinion is we're remanding it to
the trial court just to clear up what it
meant by effectuate Facilitate was okay
They didn't like the word effectuate And
then I have a feeling because you know
the original deadline that the trial
court judge set was
11:59 p.m on Monday The Supreme Court
opinion was careful to note okay that
deadline has passed But in all other
effects that court order remains
something that the government must abide
by So I think the tone the tenor the
atmospherics of this opinion suggests
that this thing better not linger one
minute longer than it needs to I mean if
it's being remanded back to the trial
court to figure out some of the the
intricacies here presumably the trial
court would say "Okay let's figure out
what effectuate means and then here's a
new deadline by which this has to be
done." Yeah I I think the uh trial court
judge would be wise to set another
deadline and um I don't think the
Supreme Court will look kindly on more
sort of unnecessary delay by the Trump
administration Now Glenn I know that we
have spoken about other cases in which
the Trump administration has sought to
deport people without due process Does
this have any impact on those other
cases Yeah I love that question because
I've been trying to think through the
implications of it because remember in
the case that was being handled by Judge
Booseberg involving two to 300 a mass
deportation of Venezuelan immigrants to
that same prison in El Salvador and they
all had their due process rights
violated I wonder if this isn't sort of
going to set a tone that will be helpful
in that litigation and may result in the
Supreme Court being willing to say you
know what we've got another two to 300
folks who are in a comparable situation
to Mr Garcia But but let me hasten to
add they're not in an identical
situation to Mr Garcia because what
Garcia had the benefit of that those
other wrongly deported
unconstitutionally deported Venezuelan
immigrants um don't have the benefit of
It is that prior court order directing
that the United States government not
deport those other immigrants to
Venezuela So something of a mixed bag
but I do think this will forward the
constitutional and the due process and
the deportation ball at least a couple
of yards in connection with the other
pending cases And I think it's worth
just for our audience here taking a step
back and looking at this from a 30,000
foot view because I know that we that we
adapt to everything that happens and
everything feels a little bit more
normalized on a daily basis But I I want
to make sure I want to caution against
normalizing the insanity of what we are
seeing right now his administration
admitted went in court and admitted
somebody from the DOJ said that this was
an administrative error by which we
decided to send a legal resident in the
US to a foreign goolog and rather than
doing anything to return them they were
just like "No we're just going to leave
them there It was our mistake that this
guy got sent there but also we just
don't care that we can just disappear
somebody into a foreign country's
maximum security prison." And it needed
to go all the way up to the United
States Supreme Court to say "No you
can't disappear somebody with no due
process to a foreign prison Yes you have
to bring him back." And the fact that
this was even a fight the fact that
we're even having this conversation the
fact that this is happening in the
United States of America is so backwards
and so insane And if this stuff wasn't
being normalized by Trump's lunacy on a
daily basis if you had just dropped us
into this moment from five years ago to
a point where the president of the
United States is is straight up just
disappearing somebody because his name
is Hispanic and his skin is brown you
would lose your mind You would be we
would all be apoplelectic And so I I
don't want to lose the forest through
the trees here and the fact that we see
this stuff on a daily basis I don't want
us to become to become immune to to just
how utterly absurd and dangerous this is
And and look I'm I'm glad that we saw
this ruling here today And as we had
just discussed there is the possibility
that that the Trump administration could
opt to defy this court order and we can
just descend further into the
constitutional crisis that we're already
in But but you know it really is a a a
really sad commentary on the state of
affairs in the United States of America
that this shining city on a hill this
country for which law and order is
supposed to re reign supreme especially
under a political party that beats its
chest as the party of law and order is
just so far through the looking glass
that that that it's it's important we
take instances to just try and resettle
ourselves to where we are But really a
again a sad commentary on where we are
right now Yeah Brian and I'm glad you
raised that because think about the
federal government saying we were wrong
This was in violation of a court order
And then they stood fast on their
illegality and their
unconstitutionality declaring "We're not
bringing him back." Going so far as to
saying "It's literally impossible." Not
possible That's a quote from what a DOJ
attorney said to a judge in resisting
you know the the need to bring this man
back And here's one other thing I want
to plant this seed in the minds of our
viewers because I hope at some point it
grows and bears fruit When the DOJ said
this was a quote administrative error
that claim has not been tested in the
crucible of a trial that was simply spit
out both in pleadings and in open court
Um but I am not prepared to accept the
Trump administration's word that this
was an administrative error I wasn't I
wouldn't be surprised if this was an
intentional play by the Trump
administration to see how far they could
push the sort of lawless and
unconstitutional envelope Maybe we'll
get an answer to that moving forward but
let's not credit administrative error
just because a DOJ attorney spit it out
in trying to defend this conduct Right
Talk about a sad commentary on on the
state of things right now when
administrative error which would be bad
enough unto itself disqualifying enough
unto itself that they accidentally sent
somebody to a foreign goolog when even
that is unbelievable and when the
reality is more likely that they just
sent him over there because why the hell
not because they view themselves as
lawless Uh that that really goes to show
what this administration is about So
look uh we will of course stay on top of
this to see what happens next Uh how
quickly he's supposed to be returned and
whether or not the Trump administration
opts to comply So for those who are
watching right now if you want to follow
along this is a major story Highly
recommend that you subscribe Links to
both of our channels are right here on
the screen I'm Brian Taylor Cohen and
I'm Glenn Kersner You're watching the
Legal Breakdown