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USDC Judge Cooper Orders Expedited Discovery From Musk/DOGE — In CREW’s FOIA Case. Woot!

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We love it. Elon Musk — and his malign minions — will now sit for depos, and squirm under the hot lights, and the real probability of… perjury, in their sworn statements.

Could NOT happen to a nicer band of miscreants — here’s the referenced overnight 13 page opinion and order from the able USDC Judge Cooper, in DC — and a bit:

…To briefly summarize: USDS, a unit within the Executive Office of the President, has reportedly spearheaded efforts to terminate federal workers, programs, and contracts across the federal government since President Trump took office in January 2025. Seeking to learn more about USDS, CREW filed two FOIA requests with OMB and one with USDS itself. After CREW sought emergency relief, the Court entered a preliminary injunction ordering expedited processing of the USDS Request, though it declined to order processing of any of the requests by a date certain. CREW I, 2025 WL 752367, at *10–16.

The government then filed a motion for partial reconsideration asking the Court to reconsider the portions of its opinion directing USDS to process the USDS request, provide an estimate of responsive documents, and propose a schedule for expedited processing. CREW II, 2025 WL 863947, at *2. As the basis for its motion, the government argued that the Court had erred by concluding that USDS is likely an agency subject to FOIA….

USDS filed its summary judgment motion, and CREW subsequently moved for limited expedited discovery under Rule 56(d). For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant CREW’s motion in part….

The structure of USDS and the scope of its authority are critical to determining whether the agency is “wield[ing] substantial authority independently of the President.” OA, 566 F.3d at 222. And the answers to those questions are unclear from the record. Resisting this conclusion, the government principally argues that the language of the President’s executive orders indicate that USDS’s function is merely advisory. Opp’n at 4–5. But these executive orders cannot bear the weight the government assigns to them [not without some substantial back up evidence — from discovery]….

[T]he President’s USDS-related executive orders, far from resolving the question against CREW, in fact suggests that USDS is exercising substantial independent authority. As the Court already noted, the executive order establishing USDS “to implement the President’s DOGE Agenda” appears to give USDS the authority to carry out that agenda, “not just to advise the President in doing so.” CREW I, 2025 WL 752367, at *11. President Trump’s subsequent executive order also “grants the USDS Team Lead the power to keep vacant career positions open unless an agency overrides their decision….”

ORDERED that all depositions be completed within 10 days from the deadline for producing documents….

There you have it. Musk will be laid bare, and under oath, too — so contempt and perjury will await, if he persists in his prevarications. Onward — indeed. What a clown show, though, right…?

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I Guess… This Is Some Form Of… Progress, For Hinderaker…?!

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Mr. Obama (an esteemed Con. Law professor, in his day) has correctly labeled Tangerine 2.0’s extortion of Harvard University… “flatly unlawful“.

Start with that. No surprise there, but the surprise is that… Hinderaker agrees.

…Harvard rejected the administration’s proposal. I would have. The proposal treats Harvard essentially like a company that is in receivership and is now to be managed under government direction….

I don’t blame Harvard for turning down the Trump administration’s offer [actually it was an edict, not an offer, John — but why quibble?]….

Trivial, but I guess this is progress of a sort.

Even Hinderaker now admits Trump’s accelerated skewing… toward fascism and/or the repression of peaceful free expression… is “unseemly” — even to the frothy far right, it would seem.

Out.

USDC Judge Xinis Orders The Depositions Of Senior ICE/DHS Political Appointees…

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The full eight page order is here now, on the public docket.

And as we indicated in the last live blog post, Noem has really stepped in it. To the extent any of the below officials are foot-dragging, Judge Xinis has already granted Mr. Abrego Garcia’s counsel up to two more depositions — which could very easily be Rubio and Noem and/or Stephen Miller. Hilarious. Check this out.

…Plaintiffs may also, by no later than Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 5:00 PM, notice the depositions of the following affiants: Robert L. Cerna (ECF No. 11-3), Evan C. Katz (ECF No. 64), Michael G. Kozak (ECF No. 63), and Joseph N. Mazzara (ECF Nos. 74 & 77). Any such depositions must be completed by Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at 5:00 PM….

Kristi Noem is finding out that she’s decidedly in “the bigs” now — this isn’t some dusty, jerkwater local Dakota courtroom (staffed with her cronies). And contempt and/or perjury… lie dead ahead, if she keeps playing cute. Onward.

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[U X5] The Able USDC Judge Xinis Is Already Hot As a Pistol, On The Bench — CBS Live-Feed, From X-itter…

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We will update, but the hearing is underway — and CBSNews is in the courtroom.

She expects the government to deliver into the court all documents and provide testimony of agents, now — with personal knowledge of his case. Judge Paula Xinis has now ordered top ICE/DHS officials to submit to depositions. I will add more tweets, as they come:

…And… from Breanne Deppisch:

NOW: U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis hears from Trump admin. in Abrego Garcia deportation case.

“Just so everyone knows what my current thinking is – Abrego Garcia already won his injunctive proceedings… “It is a fact now, of this record, every day he is detained in CECOT is a day of irreparable harm….” We’re here today to talk about scope of the remedies,” she says….

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[Jake Rosen:] Judge Xinis says “Cancel vacation, cancel other appointments,” to the DOJ, added that she expects “all hands on deck.”

She called the Justice Department’s arguments thus far “two misguided ships passing in the night.”

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Xinis says “the Supreme Court has spoken. I’m cleaving as close as one can cleave” to their order.

Judge: “There is in my view, nothing to appeal….”

She says of DOJ arguments that there is “so much daylight between what you keep saying and what the posture of the case is….”

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ONGOING in Abrego Garcia trial @ CBSNews

Judge Xinis says she is ordering “two weeks of intense discovery” in this case, says there will be no room for “gamesmanship or grandstanding” on her order to return him to the U.S. “Nothing has been done. Nothing….”

What has happened to the US Attorneys’ duty to advance the rule of law? What?!

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More Obstruction Of Federal Court Orders, By Noem/Rubio? — This Time In Colorado. Read On, Overnight…

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The able USDC Judge Sweeney overnight clarified her earlier order, to make plain that the below would be a direct violation of her orders.

D A M N A T I O N.

Who are these embittered, malign Neanderthals? Here’s the latest — out of Denver:

…Undersigned counsel has received credible reports that, as recently as this morning, Venezuelan men at the Denver Contract Detention Facility who had been accused of Tren de Aragua affiliation were rousted from bed and told that they would be leaving the Detention Facility today. They repeatedly asked where they would be taken, and ICE officers refused to answer. They were subsequently informed that the flight they were supposed to be on had been cancelled today, and therefore, upon information and belief, they have not been removed from Colorado as of the time of this filing.

Given the likelihood however that, without further clarity from the Court pending the hearing set for April 21, 2025, members of the proposed class will be systematically removed from the District and unlawfully removed under the Proclamation, Petitioners request an order clarifying that the Court’s prohibition on removal applies to the proposed class as well as named Petitioners….

Now you know. Onward to 4 PM EDT.

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Again, Mr. Abrego Garcia’s Counsel Blasts Gaping Holes In The Internally-Contradictory Stories Kristi Noem And Marco Rubio Keep Telling — Under Oath, In Maryland.

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The parade of lies never ends, from the Noem-ites, it seems.

Yesterday, it was a televised agit-prop show — from 1600 Penn., featuring a crisis actor (the Salvadoran president) — Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem along with Tangerine 2.0, hisself. Last night, more lies under oath were filed. Today there will be a hearing — at which contempt may be on the table, before the able USDC Judge Xinis, on this:

…The Government contends that the term “facilitate” is limited to “remov[ing] any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede the alien’s ability to return here.” ECF No. 65 at 3 (emphasis in original). Not so. The Supreme Court ordered the Government “to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” Noem v. Abrego Garcia, 604 U.S. ___, 2025 WL 1077101, at *1 (Apr. 10, 2025) (emphasis added). That order is rendered null if construed solely to require removing “domestic obstacles.” To give any meaning to the Supreme Court’s order, the Government should at least be required to request the release of Abrego Garcia. Id. To date, the Government has not done so.

Contrary to the Government’s assertion that it lacks “authority” to take any such actions, ECF No. 65 at 5, its own ICE Policy Directive requires DHS supervisors to “fully coordinate at the… international… level[]” to facilitate the return of removed individuals….

[T]he Government delivered an additional ten detainees to El Salvador on Saturday. That involved all three of the actions that the Government contends the courts cannot order: “(i) mak[ing] demands of the El Salvadoran government (A1), (ii) dispatch[ing] personnel onto the soil of an independent, sovereign nation (A2), and (iii) send[ing] an aircraft into the airspace of a sovereign foreign nation… (A3).” ECF No. 65 at 4. The Government holds contractual rights to send prisoners to its “contract facility,” where the United States has “outsourced” part of its prison system, and it holds “the power to secure and transport [its] detainees, Abrego Garcia included.” ECF No. 31 at 11–12. It can exercise those same contractual rights to request their release, as the detainees are being held “pending the United States’ decision on [their] long term disposition….”

[T]he Government’s updates do not indicate that any steps have been taken to comply with this Court’s and the Supreme Court’s orders, ECF Nos. 63, 64, 74. There is no evidence that anyone has requested the release of Abrego Garcia….

When the hearing concludes, I will report on any orders entered. Onward — resolutely.

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Simplest Explanation, John? 47… Is Demented. And Deeply… Senile.

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Hinderaker tries to soften Trump’s latest social media rant — which demands violations of our First Amendment (against CBS, by the FCC).

He tries to blunt the shockingly lawless demands by saying Trump was just “blowing off steam”.

See John — how this works is, he cannot blow off steam on a public platform to hundreds of thousands — by unlawfully threatening a broadcast network. He is the state… the “steam” must stay in his private conversations, at his club or bedroom.

So yes, he is very likely to lose his libel suit against all the networks. These are equitable matters — and his hands are clearly unclean.

And just like Harvard is correct to resist his lawless attempts to control the independence and standards of higher education, CBS will resist him.

And win.

Cheers, old man.

[U] Kristi Noem IS NOW OVER AN HOUR Late — On Her Required, Under Oath Abrego Garcia Status Report, For Tonight — Before USDC Judge Xinis… Damn.

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Updated at 6:45 PM EDT: Noem-ites just filed a truly snotty status report. I will put the worst of it in blue below, for the world to see. Tangerine orchestrated an agit-prop presser with the Salvadoran president — and then they made the presser the talking points of the sworn filing tonight. The problem is that they told completely different lies, and under oath too — just two weeks ago, now. Damn — end, updated portion.

This is what insolence… smells like.

Vanilla bean, and way too much concealer. She’s a… clown-like mess — masquerading as a former cow-girl. And she’s clueless.

…Abrego Garcia was… granted withholding of removal by an Immigration Judge. Abrego Garcia is no longer eligible for withholding of removal because of his membership in MS-13 [Ed. Note: this is a hearsay assertion, supported by no competent evidence. The claim of gang membership was made by an unidentified and non-cross-examined “government informant” who is also a gang member facing sentencing, who said Mr. Garcia was a gang member, in NYC (in order to get a reduced sentence). Mr. Garcia has never lived in NYC. Full stop.], which is now a designated foreign terrorist organization [but it is only Marco Rubio’s uncorroborated, secret hearsay that connects Mr. Garcia to whatever this “gang” is — no overt act, let alone any crime of any sort]….

DHS has established processes for taking steps to remove domestic obstacles that would otherwise prevent an alien from lawfully entering the United States. DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation. . . [Ed. Note: but the US President clearly said yesterday he has this power. And he does, with no need of force. It is within his contractual rights, to order the return of Mr. Garcia — exclusively]….

I am aware that the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, was in Washington, D.C. today to meet with President Donald Trump. President Bukele and President Trump held a bilateral summit at the White House this morning.

I understand that, in response to a question regarding Abrego Garcia, President Bukele said, “I hope you’re not suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous….” [Whatever he might have said does not negate the contractual authority the US possesses — to order return of a temporary prisoner it sent to the Salvadoran prison — under a for-pay contract.]

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct…. [That’s… rich.][will add here, if one ultimately appears]. . . .

I imagine she and Tangerine 2.0 have decided, after their Kabuki theater presser with the Salvadoran president at 1600 Penn., this afternoon — that they intend to provoke another trip to the Supremes (regarding Mr. Garcia). Just… damn. [There is a big hearing tomorrow, in Maryland — will she be a no-show there, too?].

Do recall: Stewart Rhodes was a felony sentenced terrorist (with a specific enhancement for terrorism, that was to last 18 years in lockup), but he was commuted, not pardoned by Tangerine 2.0 — four long years after J6.

Now, compare: Mr. Abrego-Garcia: never charged with any crime in the US — nor in El Salvador; let alone ever convicted of anything more than a traffic ticket. He paid his taxes; he worked a sheet metal job steadily, and supported his wife and three kids — for over a decade. Noem specifically averred in court that they grabbed him primarily because he had a black Chicago Bulls baseball hat on — and a neck tattoo (of two decades’ vintage).

Again — who is it… that molly-coddles REAL domestic terrorists? Trump — but only whyte ones, that do his bidding. Deplorable.

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[U: Rigby Fleshes Mine Out!] Hinderaker Apparently Can’t Read… Plain English. From the Supremes.

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I’m waiting outside the courthouse, so I love it that Rigby wrote a full take-down of Hinderaker’s malign idiocy.

Here it is — in full: “…Hinderaker approvingly quotes Marco Rubio:

“That’s where you deport people — back to their country of origin,” he argued.

Right. That’s why so many Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador.

John goes on to ask (and I have trouble believing this is a serious question):

No one disputes that Abrego Garcia was here illegally, so why is there any debate?

Well, it’s probably because an immigration judge granted Garcia protected status in 2019, forbidding his removal to El Salvador due to the persecution he faced there—a fact John neglects to mention. (Maybe he forgot.)

The truth is that the government has produced no evidence—none—that Garcia is a member of MS–13. His initial arrest hinged on his Chicago Bulls jacket and hoodie, as well as a confidential informant who has never been identified, who advised of Garcia’s gang activity in a city in which Garcia never lived.

If the government has ample evidence of Garcia’s gang involvement, they should produce it, redacted if it threatens national security. That’s what would put an end to the debate. But it seems unlikely that the government has such evidence, since Garcia has never been charged with a crime, in El Salvador or in the U.S.

He absolutely entered the country illegally, but the judge’s protection order cannot be defied on Marco Rubio’s say-so (which came after the fact, of course, since Garcia was deported “accidentally”).

The idea that President Trump has no sway over El Salvador’s actions is absurd on its face, and only serves to make Trump look weak. He can’t negotiate with Bukele, a guy to whom he paid millions of U.S. taxpayers’ money, to release Garcia into U.S. custody? What kind of dealmaker is he, anyway?

The DOJ’s (and John’s, apparently) deliberate misreading of the SCOTUS decision is wilfully ignorant, unlawful, and just a little bit snotty….”

F L A W L E S S.

Thanks man — end, update.

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He quoted it accurately… but apparently… can’t read it.

Not for comprehension at least — it seems.

And wholly forgets that Noem and Trump himself have repeatedly said that they made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador.

What a putz!

Out.

[U: Orders Entered Already!] Coloradans Bring Forward A Muscular New Challenge — To Noem/Tangerine’s Use Of Alien Enemies Act (17th Century Nonsense)…

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Updated @ 2:20 PM Mountain Time: The able USDC Judge Sweeney in Denver has already entered an opening order, preventing Tangerine forces from taking any potential class member out of the Colorado District, without her express say-so, thus:

…MINUTE ORDER: Before the Court is Petitioners’-Plaintiffs’ Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). ECF No. [2]. Pursuant to the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), and in order to preserve the Court’s jurisdiction, [Trump] Defendants SHALL NOT REMOVE Petitioners from the District of Colorado or the United States unless or until this Court or the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates this Order. See also Vizguerra-Ramirez v. Choate, et. al, Case No. 1:25-cv-881, D. Colo., ECF No. 11 at 4-5 (collecting cases); F.T.C. v. Dean Foods Co., 384 U.S. 597, 603 (1966); Local 1814, Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n v. New York Shipping Ass’n, 965 F.2d 1224, 1237 (2d Cir. 1992).

To the extent they have not yet done so, no later than today, April 14, 2025, Petitioners’ counsel is directed (1) to serve Respondents with a copy of the TRO motion and accompanying papers, along with a copy of this Order, by e-mail to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and by overnight mail; and (2) to promptly file proof of such service on the docket. Counsel for Defendants shall promptly enter notices of appearance.

Defendants are further ordered to RESPOND to Petitioners’ TRO motion by THURSDAY, April 17, 2025. See, e.g., Gurchiani v. Garland, No. 23-9588, 2025 WL 46446, at *5 n.11 (10th Cir. Jan. 8, 2025) (noting “importance of adversarial briefing”).

The parties are hereby ORDERED to appear for a hearing on Petitioners’ TRO motion on Monday, April 21, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom A702 of the Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse….

By Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney on 4/14/2025….

End, updated portion — but this truly ties Tangerine’s hands — just as I suggested it would.

This is a new suit. And it is cleverly designed to be a winner — besting the issues that bogged the prior one down in the Supremes.

But the goal here is to say that Trump/Noem/Rubio cannot deport humans without a full habeas / due process hearing, and the Constitution doesn’t permit the government to force everyone into their favored West Texas courtrooms — these must be heard where the putative deportee is found, and they must provide a meaningful ability to challenge the government’s motions. Here’s a bit:

…To date, the government has not indicated the type of notice they intend to provide or how much time they will give individuals before seeking to remove them under the AEA. However, in a hearing in the Southern District of Texas on Friday April 11, the government said they had not ruled out the possibility that individuals will receive no more than 24 hours’ notice; the government did not say whether it was considering providing even less than 24 hours….

In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling that challenges to the Proclamation must be brought in habeas, Petitioners file this action on behalf of a class in their district of confinement. All five of the original petitioners in the D.C. litigation have likewise filed class habeas petitions and motions for temporary restraining orders for putative classes. The first was filed on April 8, 2025 in the Southern District of New York on behalf of two of the five, and the second on April 9, 2025 in the Southern District of Texas on behalf of the other three. Within hours, both district courts granted ex parte requests for TROs, ordering that the named petitioners and putative class members should not be removed from the United States or transferred out of their respective districts….

As several judges have already found, Petitioners are likely to succeed on the merits of their challenge and they are at imminent risk of removal to El Salvador, where more than one hundred individuals alleged TdA members have already been sent pursuant to the Proclamation and where they potentially face lifetime incommunicado sentences in one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Numerous accounts, both in declarations and public news reporting, have raised serious questions about the validity of the government’s designations of people as “alien enemies,” with no process provided for anyone to contest those designations. A TRO is needed because there may not be sufficient time for this Court to intervene before people are put on planes to remove Petitioners from the United States….

This is very smart lawyering: make the manifold procedural defects quite plain, front and center — a 17th Century statute lacks 21st Century embedded due process protections (so those must now be hammered out, all new!); and when accorded full due process rights, most of these petitions, and petitioners, in habeas will prevail. Onward, grinning.

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