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Steve Vladeck
@stevevladeck.bsky.social
The question isn’t whether a federal court can order the Salvadoran government to release Garcia; it can’t.
It’s whether the U.S. government has the ability to secure Garcia’s release. If so, then it can be ordered to do so, because then Garcia is in the “constructive” custody of the United States.
It sure looks like they’re going all in on the “the executive branch can ignore court orders if it thinks the court lacks jurisdiction” thing
April 4, 2025 at 3:51 PM
1.1K reposts
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This is what Judge Bates ruled in the 2004 case of Omar Abu Ali.
Abu Ali claimed that the Saudi government was only holding him because we had asked it to do so. Bates held that he had jurisdiction to find out if that was true—and to order Abu Ali’s release if so:
case-law.vlex.com/vid/abu-ali-...
I was reading through this opinion and I'm a bit confused by this paragraph - should it be "Respondents also rely heavily on..." ? I don't understand why the petitioners would be the ones citing this case.
Are all the folks the administration has sent to CECOT in the "constructive" custody of the US?
To put it in terms even Trump would understand, Bukele and El Salvador "have no cards." They will absolutely honor the US's release request.
Not if they know they will suffer no diplomatic consequences for refusing the request. Which they will not, because Trump will want them to refuse it.
They would suffer consequences if they ignore a serious request. If it's not serious (which is pretty likely) then the Trump admin will be continuing to violate the judge's order.
Withholding payments to El Salvador until they return Garcia to the US would be a serious request.
It would. My question is, will the Supreme Court order the administration to apply actual leverage? I kind of think it won't.
Hard not to view this as a test run for eventually sending citizens (be they actual prisoners or merely dissidents) to foreign gulags, tbh
... Or testing the waters for fleeing to Venezuela with a plane full of gold bars.
sounds like someone in homeland security should be put in jail until Garcia is home.
"Pretend there was a Tate Brother in that same prison, what steps would you take to bring them here..."
If you’re a lawyer or a judge in the U.S. and this doesn’t freak you the fuck out, you’re dead.
Yeah, this has always been the legal flaw in the structure of their rendition.
bsky.app/profile/anap...
If they'd just deported them there, that's one thing, but the ongoing financial aspect of their imprisonment essentially makes it a contractual relationship with a private prison that will make it much harder for the government to credibly wash their hands of them with the court.
This a man’s life on the line, and the Trump admin doesn’t disappoint on the level of horror induced by its public response to the Court’s order.
That response sounds like it came from the press secretary and her snotty little way
We are paying to house him there - just tell them we’re not paying for him anymore
And then they put a bullet in his head, to avoid the cost of feeding him.
They want to keep being paid for all those prisoners. One simple call from Trump gets the guy back. He just doesn’t care.
Exactly- DOJ is unethically withholding info from and lying to a federal judge. These attorneys are shameful and embarrassing.
Every court should take note of the lawlessness and the disrespect.
We are paying another country to detain this person but we have no ability to ask for their return? Good luck with that argument.
the prisoners are in that institution by CONTRACT with the US. The US has contractual power to have them released. They are only in there pursuant to contract with the US; we are paying El Salvador a fee to keep them.
Fu*k the contractual right, we have an army, Air Force, Marine Corps, we have diplomatic relations, we have economic leverage, Rubio with DT claim the Salvador dictator is their good friend. Let’s get this up to the supremes to order it. If they don’t we know rule of law is completely lost
Yup! I mentioned earlier that we could and should get AF 1 to go fetch them. People aren't getting that El Salvador is only housing "our" prisoners pursuant to a fee-bearing agreement. It's not like El Salvador won't spring them on request of the payor.
I suggest a New York attorney that knows his way around the United Nations contact both Nations - That they will hear a complaint by the aggrieved party to sue both for $100 million dollars in damages.
The power that doesn't '... come out of the end of a gun' (Hitler) comes out of a wallet!
If the US has the ability to dump thousands of "illegals" in El Salvador – including non-Salvadoran citizens – we can clearly regain constructive custody of Garcia.
What we're lacking – or at least Trump is lacking – is the impetus. Maybe a few more days of global financial chaos will help?
Exactly this. The government’s response is misleading and should be sanctioned. Jurisdiction is over the executive not over the foreign sovereign.
I bet if a bunch of Democratic Senators and Reps went down to El Salvador and planted themselves until that tinpot dictator saw them, and they told him there will be hell to pay once they regain power, something will happen.
I don't see enforcement of court orders as they seem to be frequently ignored.
The only question average Americans have is
'where is the enforcement!?'
The judge asked several times on what authority Garcia was being held at CECOT, with the (obviously morally injured, despondent DOJ lawyer) saying "my client" decided not to provide that info, nor will they provide info on whether and what the arrangement is, even under seal. It was tough to watch
Trump administration doesn't want to release due to the unconstitutional horror stories that will follow...
After what he said, aren't there grounds to arrest Tom Homan & jail him with NO BAIL until ALL retainers are returned?
Isn't he the one in control of the ICE agents who committed the act of denying due process?
That Judge needs to arrest some folks for contempt then ASAP. No fine, no strongly worded email, straight to jail.
Zero accountability from the Trump administration. Is that really a surprise at all?
If they have no jurisdiction and they can’t do anything about it now then… Sounds like they handed over a bunch of US citizens to a hostage situation then, doesn’t it?
The USA is paying for these people to be imprisoned. That means the USA has the power to release them back to USA custody.
Looking forward to the inevitable showdown between drumpf and roberts.
Right. The jurisdiction is over Trumps administrations actions. Not El Salvador. She thinks she’s slick but really she is just a condescending bitchy little moron.
Our Senators should be making trips there to help secure a release.
Rubio cut a deal to pay El Salvador to incarcerate these folks. There’s no way in hell he can’t call the govt there and ask them as a partner to release the guy.
We're literally paying them them to hold people. How could they even argue we don't have custodial power (or whatever the legalese is for that)?
The USA doesnt even look like russia now. Russia is an abomination but has more dignity than this
The USA looks like Somalia now.
The US has a contract with the President of El Salvador to house these prisoners at $6M/year if memory serves. A commercial contract has nothing to do with citizenship or foreign custody. The prison is a vendor to the US Government.
El Salvador is getting how much cash for this?
ANY journalist asked the dicktator this question ?
Their response just shows that they do not care that they made a mistake. It also shows that they have contempt for the rule of law. It is sad that our country is so far off course.
All they have to do is call them tell them they made a mistake and let them know when he will be picked up.