President Donald Trump's administration was just handed another stinging loss in court. This time, his defeat came at the hands of a Republican-appointed judge who openly challenged the administration's regard for the Constitution.
On Thursday, U.S. Circuit Court J. Harvie Wilkinson III — who was appointed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals by former President Ronald Reagan — shot down an appeal by the administration to impose an emergency stay on an order pertaining to the wrongful deportation of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Trump Department of Justice sought to halt an order put in place by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis (a Barack Obama appointee) to "facilitate" the return of Abrego Garcia from the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador where he has been incarcerated for more than a month without trial.
Wilkinson's opinion, which was joined by the other two judges on the 4th Circuit panel, tore into the administration for its assertion that Abrego Garcia didn't deserve to have his day in court despite the allegations against him. He added that the 4th Circuit panel's ruling was in line with the 9-0 decision the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) had already handed down.
READ MORE: 'Stunning admission': GOP senator says colleagues 'are all afraid' of 'retaliation'
"It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all," Wilkinson wrote. "The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order."
"Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done," he continued. "This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
The conservative jurist acknowledged that the DOJ asserted that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, and used that claim to further underscore the need for due process in his case. Wilkinson also noted in his opinion that the administration had already admitted that it deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador by mistake, and asked: "Why then should it not make what was wrong, right?"
Following its defeat at the hands of the 4th Circuit panel, the administration now has the choice to either comply with Xinis' prior ruling, or appeal to the full 4th Circuit in what's known as an en banc petition. Should the full 4th Circuit decline to take the case, the Trump administration's last avenue would be SCOTUS. However, SCOTUS intervening is unlikely, given its prior 9-0 ruling that the administration bring Abrego Garcia back to U.S. soil.
READ MORE: 'Odd man out': Top Trump official 'planning to cut and run' as 'civil war' engulfs Cabinet
Click here to read Judge Wilkinson's opinion in full.