Author: condor

Disappointing. July 5 Wee-Hours Order: USDC Judge Murphy Feels The Supremes Have Spoken. Not So.

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Here well after midnight, we found his paperless order entered after dark on the Fourth in Boston. It appears in Case No. 25-cv-11910.

Here it is; it is possible these men without papers are already on a plane to Sudan or Libya. Deplorable:

…Judge Brian E. Murphy: ELECTRONIC ORDER entered.

This habeas petition was transferred, Phan et al v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al, 1:25-cv-02147-RDM, Dkt. 8, from the District Court for the District of Columbia as it was deemed related to D.V.D. et al v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., 1:25-cv-10676-BEM. In D.V.D., the relief sought by Petitioners was initially granted by this Court but later stayed by the Supreme Court of the United States. Dept of Homeland Sec. v. D.V.D., S.Ct., 2025 WL 1732103 (June 23, 2025); Dept of Homeland Sec. v. D. V. D., S.Ct., 2025 WL 1832186 (July 3, 2025) (granting clarification specifically as to these Petitioners).

This Court interprets these Supreme Court orders as binding on this new petition, as Petitioners are now raising substantially similar claims, and therefore Petitioners’ motion is denied….

This relative indifference. . . to claims of torture (the Eighth Amendment is not limited to citizens) is deeply against our core American values. Dammit.

नमस्ते

[U X2: Denied] Summarily Deporting/Removing People To South Sudan (Or Libya): Now, Back Into A Temporary Hold, By DC USDC Judge Randy Moss. Woot!

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The back and forth is. . . rather dizzying. An appeal court granted a temporary pause on USDC Judge Murphy’s order, while the merits are litigated. Then, the Supremes declined to disturb that temporary stay.

But today, on the Fourth Holiday, proper — (at the DC trial court level) USDC Judge Randy Moss in Washington entered a new temporary stay — and sent this second case to Boston, and Judge Murphy.

So for now at least, people without papers cannot be flown to countries on the opposite side of the globe — to places where they have no connections — and be dumped to starve or be tortured.

Yes, so now we wait to see what USDC Judge Murphy does in Boston, tonight or tomorrow.

Here’s The Guardian (UK) on it all:

…[O]n Friday afternoon, in an extraordinary Fourth of July hearing, the district judge Randolph Moss sent the case north from Washington to another judge in Boston.

Moss concluded that the judge best equipped to deal with the issues was Brian Murphy, whose rulings led to the initial halt of the Trump administration’s effort to begin deportations to the eastern African country….

UPDATED: We now have Judge Moss’s full text set of three separate orders, from this afternoon:

…MINUTE ORDER:

In light of Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order, Dkt. [2], the Court hereby ENTERS and administrative STAY pending further order of the Court to allow the government to gather the information it needs to respond to Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order and to provide time for a hearing on that emergency motion. See United States v. Texas, 144 S. Ct. 797, 798 (Barrett, J., concurring) (describing administrative stays as “freez[ing] legal proceedings until the court can rule on a party’s request for expedited relief”).

Defendants are ENJOINED from moving, transferring, or removing from U.S. custody any Plaintiffs while the Court’s administrative stay remains in effect.

It is further ORDERED that the parties shall appear for a Zoom conference on July 4, 2025, at 12:30 p.m. Plaintiffs are hereby ORDERED to ensure that Defendants receive actual notice of this order.

When the parties reconvene at 2:30 p.m. today, the parties should be prepared to address the Supreme Court’s per curiam order in J.G.G. v. Trump, 145 S. Ct. 1003 (2025), in which the Court explained that, “[r]egardless of whether the detainees formally request release from confinement, because their claims for relief ‘necessarily imply the invalidity’ of their confinement and removal under the AEA, their claims fall within the ‘core’ of the writ of habeas corpus and thus must be brought in habeas….”

For the reasons stated on the record, it is hereby ORDERED that this case be TRANSFERRED FORTHWITH to the District Court for the District of Massachusetts, as related to 25-cv-10676 pending before Judge Murphy. It is further ORDERED that the Court’s administrative stay shall remain in place until 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on July 4, 2025, to provide Plaintiffs with an opportunity to seek relief in that court….

Signed by Judge Randolph D. Moss on 7/4/2025….

Now you know. Do keep believing in the fragile, improbable dream that is America’s robust freedom of expression — and personal liberty, coupled to rights for all humans.

नमस्ते

As The Calif. Tariffs Case In SF Rumbles Toward Trial, New Agreed Expedited Discovery Deadlines Ordered.

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Do see the below. What a strange time in America, it is — indeed.

The government can no longer simply say it “hasn’t enough legal help“, to try to forestall any judicial reckoning — for Tangerine’s manifest lawlessness.

The government chose to act ultra vires — it must hire more lawyers, if it is having trouble covering all the challenges to the lawlessness, in a timely fashion.

The government has no right to use any specific lawyer, nor any right to argue things must slow down to let these lawyers take Summer vacations — when Tangerine 2.0 has moved to a near “militia state” — uninvited in southern California, and has tried to impose tariffs that disproportionately punish California business concerns.

So, here the latest expedited discovery schedule, ordered this morning, by USDC Judge Breyer, in SF (on the Fourth, no less!):

…The Court sets the following expedited discovery schedule:

➣ July 9 BY NOON: Plaintiffs and Defendants submit their respective positions on the depositions to be conducted in briefs not to exceed 5 pages of substantive text each;

➣ July 25: all expedited discovery completed, with Defendants to make an initial production of documents by July 11 and continue with rolling productions in advance of depositions;

➣ July 30: Plaintiffs file supplemental brief in support of their preliminary injunction motion;

➣ August 4: Defendants file supplemental opposition to Plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion; and

➣ August 6: Plaintiffs file supplemental reply brief in support of their preliminary injunction.

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED….

Now you know. Go, be excellent to one another.

नमस्ते

Another Interstellar “Visitor” — This Time, A Comet — Will Pass Us, Just Outside The Orbit Of Mars, Late This Summer..

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Many here will recall the spotting of Oumuamua — a first, for actual, visual detection of interstellar objects whizzing by — about five years ago. It was thought to be a rocky asteroid.

This time, we are directly observing a dirty ice ball, or comet — that has crossed the intersteller medium, over likely millions of years, to blow through here — like a teenager, driving their dad’s Alfa-Romeo Spider Velocé. Heh. Here’s the latest, from NASA:

…On July 1, the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first reported observations of a comet that originated from interstellar space. Arriving from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, the interstellar comet has been officially named 3I/ATLAS. It is currently located about 420 million miles (670 million kilometers) away.

Since that first report, observations from before the discovery have been gathered from the archives of three different ATLAS telescopes around the world and the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California. These “pre-discovery” observations extend back to June 14. Numerous telescopes have reported additional observations since the object was first reported.

The comet poses no threat to Earth and will remain at a distance of at least 1.6 astronomical units (about 150 million miles or 240 million km). It is currently about 4.5 au (about 416 million miles or 670 million km) from the Sun. 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest approach to the Sun around Oct. 30, at a distance of 1.4 au (about 130 million miles or 210 million km) — just inside the orbit of Mars….

This is a new epoch in telescope science — directly observing objects not much bigger than a Wal-Mart, hundred of millions of miles out in space. Wow! Onward — and do have a peaceful, quiet Fourth, one and all.

नमस्ते

Abrego Update in MD: Noem Has Badly Overplayed The Limited Hand She Saddled Herself With…

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USDC Judge Xinis just put her foot down.

She won’t be flim flammed into the Noemites’ procedual maze — just to abuse Mr. Abrego Garcia some more; here is the paperless order just entered:

…PAPERLESS ORDER: [Noem’s] Defendants’ Request to Continue July 7, 2025 hearing is DENIED.

The hearing will proceed as scheduled.

Signed by Judge Paula Xinis on 7/3/2025. (Chambers)….

Excellent! Fireworks (real and metaphorical) to follow.

नमस्ते

In Nashville — The Noemites Were Just Ordered To Stop Libeling Mr. Abrego Garcia In The Press. The Law Requires Statements Restricted To Those Charged, In The “Indictment”

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More sunshine — about what these lawless govt. thugs are endlessly doing — is an important, but partial, antiseptic. Today a court order backs it.

The lawyers for Abrego this morning received an order from the able USDC Judge Crenshaw in Nashville — which should be tacked to the front door of the Veep’s office, Ms. Noem’s office, Stephen Miller’s office — and the Oval Office: stop making FALSE statements to the press about a pending criminal matter.

That is a 120 year standing crim. pro. law edict. And Team Tangerine 2.0 pretends they are “above” fair trials, now. Dammit. Here’s what was “so ordered” this morning — and a bit:

…From the moment Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia challenged his illegal rendition to El Salvador in March 2025, the government has repeatedly maligned him in public statements. Instead of complying with the Supreme Court’s order that it “facilitate” Mr. Abrego’s return to the United States, the government launched a public disparagement campaign against him to justify his unlawful detention in El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (“CECOT”), one of the most violent, inhumane prisons in the world. As Mr. Abrego’s plight captured national attention, officials occupying the highest positions of the United States government baselessly labeled him a “gangbanger,” “monster,” “illegal predator,” “illegal alien terrorist,” “wife beater,” “barbarian,” and “human trafficker.” The Vice President, a Yale Law School graduate, went so far as to flatly lie about Mr. Abrego, calling him a “convicted MS-13 gang member,” notwithstanding that Mr. Abrego in fact has never been convicted of any crime at all….

When the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) finally retrieved Mr. Abrego from El Salvador, only to indict him on human smuggling charges in this District, the government did not stop attacking him. Instead, on the day of Mr. Abrego’s initial appearance, he was assailed in no fewer than twenty separate public statements from across the Executive Branch. In announcing the charges against Mr. Abrego, Attorney General Bondi held a news conference at which she detailed irrelevant, baseless allegations that Mr. Abrego “solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor” and “played a role in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother….” [Ed. Note: All of these are manifestly false — and thus libelous — statements.]

Mr. Abrego is entitled to a fair trial “by an impartial jury free from outside influences.” Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 362 (1966). But he is nearly certain to be denied that right if the government, left to its own devices, stays its current course. Like all parties who appear before this Court, the government is required to abide by Local Criminal Rule 2.01. That Rule prohibits making “an extrajudicial statement. . . that. . . will be disseminated by public communication, and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter.” M.D. Tenn. L. Crim. R. 2.01(a)(1). The Rule applies equally to lawyers and “the government agencies or offices… and employees of such… government agencies or offices, with which the lawyer is associated.” Id. 2.01(a)(4)….

Thank you, USDC Judge Crenshaw. Onward.

नमस्ते

This Is What… Official Obstruction Looks Like: Noem Edition — At Fourth Of July 2025.

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Welp. Not surprising, in the least — but ugly, just the same. Noem / Tangerine / Miller / Rubio claim they need 14 days(?!) to figure out “their position” on. . . whether what a USDC Judge orders. . . DOES ACTUALLY bind. . . them. Damn.

Below is the [non-responsive] response, to an order asking why the government cannot understand that Mr. Khalil need not report to ICE, periodically. . . BECAUSE THIS SAME JUDGE ORDERED that he need not do so — on the record, in open court, nearly two weeks ago, now. [Even the Noemites recite this fact, in a prior letter, filed with the court earlier THIS week.]

So this poppycock, about vacation schedules and needing 14 days. . . is bad faith / obstruction, exclusively. See the full one pager, and the operative [non-] bit of it, this morning:

. . .Respondents (the “Government”) submit this letter in response to the Court’s Order, ECF No. 334, and to Petitioner Mahmoud Khalil’s letter regarding compliance with the preliminary injunction (“PI”), ECF No. 332. Given the differing positions regarding the scope of the PI, the Government recommends that the parties engage in motions practice over the PI’s interpretation.

The Government declines to offer a substantive response at this time, [confidential note to the AUSAs: you cannot decline to respond to federal court orders, unless you want the Judge to deem your position… waived — and simply order relief summarily to Mr. Khalil, including his attorneys’ fees and damages….] because Petitioner’s request is for a status conference.

The Government is reserving its substantive arguments for when Petitioner presents his arguments. And such a response by the Government requires time for the undersigned to confer with the various interested parties, draft a response, and obtain proper review. The Government therefore requests that the Court set a briefing schedule to allow the parties a reasonable time and opportunity to set forth more fully their respective legal positions, including permitting the Government fourteen (14) days to respond to Petitioner’s filing….

Please be advised that lead counsel, Dhruman Y. Sampat, will be out of the office and traveling internationally from July 22 to 29, 2025….

What a pack of… putzes. [Their various vacations cannot take precedence over resolving non-compliance with federal court decrees.] It would be actually be comical — as an exemplar of the banality… of evil — if a man’s life (lawfully in the US as a student, married to a US citizen — with a new baby) was not being disrupted wrongfully, thereby. Barbecue and fireworks, tonight. Onward.

नमस्ते

USDC Judge Xinis In Maryland Is Very Likely (By Next Tuesday, Or So), To Tell Noem / Rubio / Miller / Tangerine 2.0… That Their Fruits From “A Poisoned Tree” Have Now Ripened, And They Must “Eat Them” .

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More — out of Maryland this afternoon, to combat Noem’s awful abuses, as to Abrego Garcia’s continued detention. It is eleven pages of excellent argument.

Also, the main All Writs Act complaint has been amended tonight — here’s that filing, as a redline.

Here’s that fine filing, this afternoon — in Maryland — and a bit:

…The Government’s opposition (ECF No. 208) does not contest any aspect of the merits of Plaintiffs’ emergency motion to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to Maryland. Among other things, the Government does not dispute that:

➣ The All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. §1651, and inherent equitable powers authorize the requested relief. ECF No. 203 at 2–3.

➣ This Court’s injunction “properly requires the Government… to ensure that [Abrego Garcia’s] case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” Noem v. Abrego Garcia, 145 S. Ct. 1017, 1018 (2025), and achieving that—i.e., restoring the status quo ante—requires returning Abrego Garcia to Maryland. ECF No. 203 at 3–4.

➣ The equities are one-sided in favoring a return to Maryland. Id. at 4–5.

➣ If this Court does not act, the Government will likely shuttle Abrego Garcia elsewhere for forum-shopping purposes….

Indeed, the Government’s brief does not even mention the All Writs Act, courts’ equitable powers, the Supreme Court’s decision in this case, or the equities. See generally ECF No. 208. Instead of contesting the merits, the Government presses three jurisdictional defenses: (1) the case is moot, id. at 1–2; (2) certain statutory provisions — 8 U.S.C. §1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), §1252(b)(9), and §1252(g)—bar jurisdiction, id. at 2–6; and (3) the requested relief sounds in habeas, yet this Court lacks habeas jurisdiction, id. at 6–7. Each defense fails….

The relief Abrego Garcia seeks in this motion is critical “to restore the status quo and preserve Abrego Garcia’s access to due process in accordance with the Constitution and governing immigration statutes.” ECF No. 21 at 2–3.

This Court should therefore enter the order under the All Writs Act and the Court’s inherent equitable authority. Because of the threat the Government will remove Abrego Garcia unlawfully if ICE takes him into custody and no such order is in place, Abrego Garcia requested, and the Tennessee court agreed, to delay issuance of its release order so that he remains in U.S. Marshal custody, rather than ICE custody, until the hearing scheduled in that case for July 16, 2025. See ECF No. 67 in United States v. Abrego Garcia, No. 3:25-cr-115 (M.D. Tenn. June 30, 2025). Plaintiffs request that the Court enter the requested relief by then….

Onward — to the choo choos, for a night classical / rap / concert up north, outdoors…. [And I’ll see you there, on the 16th, then].

नमस्ते

While We Are All Transfixed, By Vote-A-Rama… What Did Syria Offer Tangerine 2.0 — To Get Off The US Sanctions List (In Place Since 1979)?!

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Forgive my deep jaundice here.

I have no solid evidence of anything being offered or paid — under the table. But we all well know, based on three decades’ of experience, Tangerine does no favors, without very specific “quid pro quo” transactional returns. So too, here — I very reasonably suspect. The now President of Syria gew up inside Al-Queda. [And the US’s chief “handler” in these current negotiations… was indicted by a grand jury, on unregistered foreign influence charges, last go-’round.]

The country had been a state sponsor of terror since the days of President Jimmy Carter. So. . . what did Trump get? And was it sent via untraceable crypto meme coin support, from Syrian “investors” who individually might not even be “state actors”? We should not let vote-a-rama distract us from this amazing change of heart, in US policy. [After all, Syria historically sponsored terror, against… Israel. Yep — you read that right.] Here’s a bit, from Politico:

. . .President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday to permanently revoke most sanctions on Syria — as the administration works to navigate upheaval in the Middle East and expand its effort to improve relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The action will immediately terminate five executive orders that created the existing Syria sanctions program and direct the government to waive other sanctions on the books via Congress, export controls and other measures, according to administration officials who briefed reporters on the directive….

The U.S. has had some level of sanctions on Syria since 1979, when the U.S. designated it a state sponsor of terrorism. The U.S. expanded those measures in 2004 over Syria’s military presence in Lebanon and support for militant groups. In 2011, Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on Syrian officials, oil exports and the financial sector in response to President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on protesters….

And yes, Tom Barrack — yep, that billionaire / donor guy! — is at the center of these flip-flops… damn. Just like Tangerine 1.0. Onward.

नमस्ते