Tuesday, April 15, 2025

I'm collecting links to news that I find noteworthy and am sharing it here periodically. You can also subscribe to receive these posts via email as they are published. I hope you find it helpful, and please feel free to let me know what you think.

I don't intend to post this often, but there's just too much news these days.

Concentration Camp Updates

The Trump administration believes it can ship people to a foreign concentration camp and that there's nothing anyone can do about it. Heather Cox Richardson (both here and here) and (especially) Chris Geidner have good accounts of where things stand and how we got here. We're going to find out pretty quickly whether the rule of law and the constitutional order have any remaining vitality at all. This is a five-alarm fire, people.

To be clear, neither Trump nor President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has any intention of returning Kilmar Obrego Garcia to the United States from the torture prison where he has been mistakenly condemned to rot by the US government. And Trump floated the idea of sending US citizens to the El Salvadoran concentration camp.

The Trump administration is plainly taunting those of us who aren't on board with fascism. The US is paying El Salvador to hold these people, and it's inconceivable that Obrego Garcia wouldn't be released if the US demanded it. Trump's respect for the sovereignty of El Salvador is clearly feigned, given his stance toward annexing Canada and Greenland. Bukele even came to the US today to meet with Trump, and, if necessary, Obrego Garcia could have caught a ride on his flight. The Trump administration appears to have done more to secure the release of Andrew Tate from Romania, where Tate is charged with rape and human trafficking, than it is willing to do to correct their mistake regarding Obrego Garcia, who appears have never been charged with any crime anywhere.

This is teeing up at least two constitutional crises: The substantive question of whether the government can just disappear someone into a concentration camp and the structural question of whether the executive can defy the judiciary.

Leading scholar of authoritarianism Tim Snyder has an essay up discussing these events in historical context that is very much worth reading. Please take a look if you can--I don't think it's paywalled, but I might be wrong--but here's a portion of his concluding thoughts:

Authoritarian Attacks on the Institutions of Civil Society

Trump asks the FCC Chair to unconstitutionally punish CBS because 60 Minutes ran stories on Ukraine and Greenland that he didn't like.

And Trump unconstitutionally freezes $2.2B in grants to Harvard University because Harvard won't commit to limiting students' speech in the way Trump wants.

Harvard's refusal to capitulate, unlike other universities, is a tiny bit of good news. Another small bit of good news: the building trades union president spoke out in support of Kilmar Obrego Garcia, a union member.

Voting Rights

The House passed a bill that would require documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote. It's not likely to pass the Senate, where Republicans can't overcome the filibuster, but, if passed, it would likely disenfranchise millions of US citizens who lack easy access to proof of citizenship, perhaps especially women who gave up their maiden names when they married. Voting by non-citizens is already illegal. It is also quite rare and, when it does happen, tends to be a mistake rather than attempt to steal an election.

Miscellanea

This is my single favorite podcast episode of all time. (Also available from Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.) I began my legal career as a public defender, and I think I've done, said, thought, observed, or had a close friend do, say, think, or observe 95% of what this episode discusses.

Lastly, my kids got ready early so they could play on their new swing on this beautiful spring morning. I didn't get a great photo, but it's a reminder to me of what's good in the world and why I won't look away from the things that threaten it.