Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked a district court order demanding Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia be returned to the US by midnight tonight. The Trump administration removed Garcia despite his legal status, claiming without evidence that Garcia was involved with gangs that Garcia’s wife says he was trying to escape in Venezuela. The Trump administration admitted in court that the deportation was an “administrative error.”
Roberts ordered lawyers to respond by Tuesday at 5 PM Eastern Time, but critics say the judge had no business delaying the correction of what they characterized as an illegal kidnapping.
“The john Roberts SCOTUS will go down in the history books as responsible for the downfall of American democracy,” wrote MeidasTouch reporter Suri Crowe. “Roberts is grossly corrupt. I cannot … an innocent man is in a death camp and Roberts pauses his return?!”
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“EVIL REMAINS THE BRAND,” wrote Bombshell Daily. “Donald now pressures the Supreme Court to keep an innocent Maryland man from being returned to his family. An inability to admit mistakes is why our economy, and perhaps democracy, are doomed."
Earlier Monday, a three-judge panel for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously tossed the Trump administration’s request to overturn a lower-court order demanding they return a Garcia to the U.S.
“The United States Government has no legal authority to snatch a person who is lawfully present in the United States off the street and remove him from the country without due process. The Government’s contention otherwise, and its argument that the federal courts are powerless to intervene, are unconscionable.” the panel ruled, adding that the administration’s continued disregard for the court system and the rule of law made it easy to envision “a path of perfect lawlessness, one that courts cannot condone.”
“Do we even know if this man is still alive?” demanded a Bluesky commenter. “He's in one of the deadliest prisons in the world. Does SCOTUS have any decency left in them? … They had better act fast because Kilmar may not have much time.”
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