Dem
47
GOP
53
The Supreme Court has finally laid down the law for the Trump administration, albeit in as flaccid a manner as one can possibly imagine. In yet another unsigned order, by a vote of "who knows?" to "who knows?", the Court decreed that while the White House does not have to adhere to the deadline imposed by Judge Paula Xinis (which was April 7, and so has already passed), it does have to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States, and that it "should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps."
This sure seems like the bare minimum SCOTUS could do, since even the administration admits that Garcia was deported to El Salvador by mistake, and that he's guilty of... nothing (other than having a Spanish last name, we suppose). And clearly, the Supremes (or, at least five of the Supremes) decided to give the White House plenty of room to save face, so that it could bring Garcia back on its own "reasonable" timeline.
Some outlets, including The Atlantic, which first reported the news, are presenting this as the litmus test of whether or not Donald Trump will actually abide by the orders of the Supreme Court. After all, while the justices did not lay out a specific timeline, they did demand an outcome. And if that outcome is not accomplished by, say, the end of the month, then it's pretty clear that the White House is being defiant.
For our part, however, we are skeptical. Garcia is one person, and the more attention his story gets, the worse it is for the White House because it makes the administration look arbitrary and incompetent. We very seriously doubt that, even if Trump is prepared to say "Roberts has his ruling, now let him enforce it!" that this will be the case where that happens. Surely he would keep his powder dry for something much bigger and more consequential, like impoundment of funds. (Z)