Harry Litman - An extraordinary opinion for the current crisis
Yesterday afternoon, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Administration’s emergency appeal seeking to stop Judge Paula Xinis from probing into the Administration's efforts—or lack thereof—to facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia from CECOT, the gulag-like El Salvador prison that the United States mistakenly delivered him to.
The ruling itself was heartening. But that was the least of it. Most people expected that, having affirmed Judge Xinis’s initial order—and in turn been affirmed by the Supreme Court—the Fourth Circuit would rebuff the Administration’s effort to prevent Judge Xinis from following through with court-ordered discovery.
The Fourth Circuit’s speed in rejecting the government's petition for a stay was remarkable. The government filed its emergency papers at around midnight on Wednesday. At two in the morning on Thursday, the Court of Appeals ordered Abrego-Garcia’s lawyers to respond by 5 PM that day. Then, at about 2:45—i.e., before Abrego-Garcia’s papers were even due—the Fourth Circuit unanimously denied the government’s request.
That warp-speed treatment communicated the urgency of the case and Judge Xinis’s declaration that “Every day Mr. Abrego-Garcia is detained in CECOT is another day of irreparable harm.”
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/an-extraordinary-opinion-for-the