The signing of the Magna Carta on June 15, 1215, at Runnymede, England..
This article was originally published on Daily Kos,
By Alan Singer
I am very scared for the future of the rule by law and democracy in the United States and you should be too.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a restraining order on the deportation of hundreds of undocumented Venezuelans migrants to a Salvadorian prison until constitutionally guaranteed due process was followed. In an Executive Order, Trump claimed the 1798 Alien Enemies Act gave him the authority to deport citizens and subjects of a foreign nation if that country is a war with the United States, but of course the United States is not at war with Venezuela and only Congress can declare war.
The Trump administration’s response to the restraining order was too bad we already did it and it is too late to change it. When the judge requested the timeline for the deportations to determine if the court order could have been obeyed, the Trump Justice Department tried to get a hearing canceled, its attorneys refused to respond to the judge in the name of national security, and tried to get the judge removed from the case.
Donald Trump responded to the federal judge’s decision in a dangerous and unhinged post on Truth Social.
“This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President . . . This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
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Alan Singer is a historian and teacher educator at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. His most recent books are Social Studies for Secondary Schools, 5th edition (Routledge, 2024) and Class-Conscious Coal Miners (SUNY Press, 2024). Blogs, tweets, essays, interviews, and e-blasts present his views and not those of Hofstra University.