We are tottering on the edge of dictatorship. Powerful voices across institutions, from politics to academia and religion, must speak out

The US constitution is in peril. Civil and human rights are being trampled upon. The economy is in disarray.

At this rate, we will not make it through the second 100 days.

Federal judges in more than 120 cases so far have sought to stop Trump – judges appointed by Republicans as well as Democrats, some appointed by Trump himself – but the regime is either ignoring or appealing their orders. It has even arrested a municipal judge in Milwaukee amid a case involving an undocumented defendant.

Recently, Judge J Harvie Wilkinson III of the court of appeals for the fourth circuit – an eminent conservative Reagan appointee who is revered by the Federalist Society – issued a scathing rebuke to the Trump regime. In response to its assertion that it can abduct residents of the US and put them into foreign prisons without due process, Wilkinson wrote:

If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home? And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies? The threat, even if not the actuality, would always be present, and the Executive’s obligation to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ would lose its meaning.

    • macji@pawb.social
      10·
      9 hours ago

      They are appealing temporary restraining orders, which are not legally appealeable! TROs are extreme methods of relief designed to stop something from occurring that has a huge risk of irreparable harm, and are temporary so that the court can actually take the time to weigh the issue.

      Usually a TRO is issued for 2-3 weeks, the court takes that time to come to grips with what’s happening, and then can rule with a better understanding. If you could just appeal a TRO, then you could just take the action that causes the irreparable harm faster than any court can effectively rule, which is why they’re not supposed to be appealeable.

      So yes, appealing a TRO is dystopian and illegal, but who can stop it? The supreme court eventually…