Rule of Law?

 

If I live in a jurisdiction in which the district attorney expressly refuses to prosecute anyone who steals purses from old ladies carrying less than $10,000 in cash and valuables, does that establish a legal right to steal purses from old ladies? If a cop or some do-gooder grabs me a few seconds after they hear some annoying old lady yelling about being robbed, can they take that purse from me and return it to her without a hearing or due process?

We live in a jurisdiction (the USA) in which a lawless chief enforcement official (Joseph Robinette Biden) not only refused to enforce immigration law but actively imported illegal aliens.  Ten or twenty million purse-snatchers and their allies believe that a right to keep the purse has been established.

I am not thrilled with a prison being a main deportation destination, nor am I pleased that the Administration has blown off some minimal procedural steps in some instances that gave lawfare warriors an opening.

But it has to be established beyond question that Biden’s lawlessness did not create a right that can be challenged only by formal process in each individual case.  The lawfare being waged over the specifics of immigration enforcement clearly carries an intent of smuggling in/establishing such a right.

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  1. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Old Bathos: The lawfare being waged over the specifics of immigration enforcement clearly carries an intent of establishing such a right.

    I see two intentions. One is a long-term destructive intent on America’s rule of law as described in the concluding remark. This is the Communist-oriented “domestic enemy” at work. The second one is to delay enforcement in an attempt to keep President Trump from establishing a governing record that solidifies the support of the American people with the objective being to influence the 2026 midterm elections to favor Democrats. 

    • #1
  2. Susan Quinn Member
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I agree. Who thought we’d live to see lawlessness by our judiciary system?

    • #2
  3. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I agree. Who thought we’d live to see lawlessness by our judiciary system?

    So what happens now?

    Your comment @susanquinn and the point of the OP is that the Executive is acting lawfully and the Judiciary is acting unlawfully. Normally, Congressional action would settle the issue but that can be difficult with the Senate filibuster.

    • #3
  4. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    Who thought we’d live to see lawlessness by our judiciary system?

    It really did not take long.

    • #4
  5. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    Who thought we’d live to see lawlessness by our judiciary system?

    It really did not take long.

    The proper Constitutional action for unlawful action by POTUS is impeachment, no?

    • #5
  6. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):
    The proper Constitutional action for unlawful action by POTUS is impeachment, no?

    That’s what I remember from reading the guv’mint manual (Constitution).

    • #6
  7. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Great point

    • #7
  8. Susan Quinn Member
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I expect the Supreme Court will finally jump in and be explicit about the power of the lower courts. Congress can also act.

    • #8
  9. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I expect the Supreme Court will finally jump in and be explicit about the power of the lower courts. Congress can also act.

    Reigning in judge-shopping for expansive policy orders is key but not enough.  I still think Congress has to get involved with the objective not to eliminate due process but to clarify where it does and does not apply and how that process is carried out.  The vast majority of illegals have no cognizable claim to remain or block deportation. Limiting process to the clearly defined minority that do have judiciable issues so that process does not become a tactic or barrier to all deportations would be the starting point for more good faith interactions and proper balance between the second and third branches.

    • #9
  10. W Bob Member
    W Bob
    @WBob

    I do think there has to be enough process to ensure that someone who is mistakenly detained, such as a citizen, is not deported by accident. This doesn’t require a long drawn out process and a court date to be set and appeals etc. Special magistrates could be appointed for this purpose. One hundred of them could probably handle five thousand cases a day. 

    • #10
  11. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    The vast majority of illegals have no cognizable claim to remain or block deportation.

    92% of them are lying about being entitled to asylum. They are supposed to stop in the next, supposedly free country, not go all the way up here and cross illegally. The whole thing is insanity.

    • #11
  12. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    W Bob (View Comment):

    I do think there has to be enough process to ensure that someone who is mistakenly detained, such as a citizen, is not deported by accident. This doesn’t require a long drawn out process and a court date to be set and appeals etc. Special magistrates could be appointed for this purpose. One hundred of them could probably handle five thousand cases a day.

    This could be done but when the deportation is delayed for due process the person should be detained and confined if confirmed as illegally in America.

    • #12
  13. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Old Bathos: I am not thrilled with a prison being a main deportation destination nor am I pleased that the Administration has blown off some minimal procedural steps in some instances that gave lawfare warriors an opening.

    Simple answer:

    We’re helping El Salvador deal with the TdA gang members, because Venezuela refuses to take them back.

    The US didn’t deport Garcia to prison.

    The US deported him to his home country.

    His home country put him in prison, because he was already a criminal there. The super-prison was established mostly for MS-13 gang members, and Garcia has been determined both in El Salvador and the US, to be a member of MS-13.

    To that extent, it’s none of our business.

    • #13
  14. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):
    The proper Constitutional action for unlawful action by POTUS is impeachment, no?

    That’s what I remember from reading the guv’mint manual (Constitution).

    What a country it’s become if a president is not impeached/removed for unlawful action, but the president who tries to fix it, is?

    • #14
  15. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I expect the Supreme Court will finally jump in and be explicit about the power of the lower courts. Congress can also act.

    Reigning in judge-shopping for expansive policy orders is key but not enough. I still think Congress has to get involved with the objective not to eliminate due process but to clarify where it does and does not apply and how that process is carried out. The vast majority of illegals have no cognizable claim to remain or block deportation. Limiting process to the clearly defined minority that do have judiciable issues so that process does not become a tactic or barrier to all deportations would be the starting point for more good faith interactions and proper balance between the second and third branches.

    I would expect all of them to CLAIM to have judiciable issues, and they would demand “due process” to sort that out.

    • #15
  16. Subcomandante America Member
    Subcomandante America
    @TheReticulator

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    W Bob (View Comment):

    I do think there has to be enough process to ensure that someone who is mistakenly detained, such as a citizen, is not deported by accident. This doesn’t require a long drawn out process and a court date to be set and appeals etc. Special magistrates could be appointed for this purpose. One hundred of them could probably handle five thousand cases a day.

    This could be done but when the deportation is delayed for due process the person should be detained and confined if confirmed as illegally in America.

    Yes, but Congress needs to authorize spending on some lockup barracks, which it has not done.  It has been a problem.   

    • #16
  17. Subcomandante America Member
    Subcomandante America
    @TheReticulator

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):
    The proper Constitutional action for unlawful action by POTUS is impeachment, no?

    That’s what I remember from reading the guv’mint manual (Constitution).

    What a country it’s become if a president is not impeached/removed for unlawful action, but the president who tries to fix it, is?

    Depends on whether the fix is done unlawfully or not.    

    • #17
  18. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Subcomandante America (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):
    The proper Constitutional action for unlawful action by POTUS is impeachment, no?

    That’s what I remember from reading the guv’mint manual (Constitution).

    What a country it’s become if a president is not impeached/removed for unlawful action, but the president who tries to fix it, is?

    Depends on whether the fix is done unlawfully or not.

    Decided by the same people who did nothing about the cause.  Brilliant.

    • #18
  19. Subcomandante America Member
    Subcomandante America
    @TheReticulator

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Subcomandante America (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):
    The proper Constitutional action for unlawful action by POTUS is impeachment, no?

    That’s what I remember from reading the guv’mint manual (Constitution).

    What a country it’s become if a president is not impeached/removed for unlawful action, but the president who tries to fix it, is?

    Depends on whether the fix is done unlawfully or not.

    Decided by the same people who did nothing about the cause. Brilliant.

    It’s a group project that involves all of us.   

    • #19
  20. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    I remember something like this from Solzenitsyn so I asked Grok.

    “Why did Solzenitsyn say that the Communists freed the prisoners when they took power?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in The Gulag Archipelago, noted that when the Bolsheviks (Communists) seized power in Russia during the 1917 Revolution, they initially released many prisoners, including political prisoners, from Tsarist jails. This was a strategic move to gain popular support and destabilize the old regime. The Bolsheviks presented themselves as liberators, freeing those oppressed by the Tsarist autocracy, such as revolutionaries, dissidents, and common criminals. However, Solzhenitsyn highlights the irony: this act of “liberation” was short-lived. The Bolsheviks soon established their own repressive system, filling new prisons and labor camps with perceived enemies, including many of those they had freed, as well as new victims of their purges. The initial release was a tactical ploy, not a commitment to freedom, and Solzhenitsyn uses this to underscore the deceptive nature of the Communist regime’s early promises.

    I think the goal is to say that anything that happens in the current regime is illegitimate. Antonio Gramski mentioned that he wanted men and women to distrust each other, the clerisy and the laity to distrust each other and the common people and the cops to distrust each other. With all that distrust, the Communists could easily conquer a weaker more suspicious society.

    Are we seeing something similar?

    • #20
  21. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    I remember something like this from Solzenitsyn so I asked Grok.

    “Why did Solzenitsyn say that the Communists freed the prisoners when they took power?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in The Gulag Archipelago, noted that when the Bolsheviks (Communists) seized power in Russia during the 1917 Revolution, they initially released many prisoners, including political prisoners, from Tsarist jails. This was a strategic move to gain popular support and destabilize the old regime. The Bolsheviks presented themselves as liberators, freeing those oppressed by the Tsarist autocracy, such as revolutionaries, dissidents, and common criminals. However, Solzhenitsyn highlights the irony: this act of “liberation” was short-lived. The Bolsheviks soon established their own repressive system, filling new prisons and labor camps with perceived enemies, including many of those they had freed, as well as new victims of their purges. The initial release was a tactical ploy, not a commitment to freedom, and Solzhenitsyn uses this to underscore the deceptive nature of the Communist regime’s early promises.

    I think the goal is to say that anything that happens in the current regime is illegitimate. Antonio Gramski mentioned that he wanted men and women to distrust each other, the clerisy and the laity to distrust each other and the common people and the cops to distrust each other. With all that distrust, the Communists could easily conquer a weaker more suspicious society.

    Are we seeing something similar?

    The whole system is set up to make people be populists and socialists. 

    • #21
  22. Joker Member
    Joker
    @Joker

    3 Whiskey Happy Hour seemed to agree that deportees were entitled to due process due to precedence. And I could not care less if we were talking about a few cases, but this is impractical for the millions of potential cases. Congress has to lay down something quicker for administrative disposition.

    I can almost see classifying gotaways (who had no contact with border officials) differently from those granted whatever phony asylum status. The gotaways, like Garcia should have no recourse. Don’t care if they’re gangsters or saints. Didn’t want to show up to defend a phony asylum claim on your court date, no due process. Deportation order, gone.

    The idea that we can only expel prosecuted felons is not the bar to clear. For one thing, if prosecutions are plead down from felonies to misdemeanors, lots of dangerous, violent felons will be roaming around. Sanctuary cities won’t prosecute illegals for any felonies, which is a bad answer for the safety of the city.

    Certainly under a Republican president there’s no consensus that the executive has sole authority over immigration. But it surely is not the sole province of the judiciary. Yet the district judges are claiming to have that authority.

    Simple rule: If the alien in question would not have been allowed in through normal visa process, he can be expelled at any time for no other reason. Garcia: gang member, check. Caught human trafficking, check. Wife beater, check. Criminal record in home country, check. Heck, driving in Tennessee without a license. He’d never have been admitted, shouldn’t have to lift a finger to deport him.

     

    • #22
  23. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    I remember something like this from Solzenitsyn so I asked Grok.

    “Why did Solzenitsyn say that the Communists freed the prisoners when they took power?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in The Gulag Archipelago, noted that when the Bolsheviks (Communists) seized power in Russia during the 1917 Revolution, they initially released many prisoners, including political prisoners, from Tsarist jails. This was a strategic move to gain popular support and destabilize the old regime. The Bolsheviks presented themselves as liberators, freeing those oppressed by the Tsarist autocracy, such as revolutionaries, dissidents, and common criminals. However, Solzhenitsyn highlights the irony: this act of “liberation” was short-lived. The Bolsheviks soon established their own repressive system, filling new prisons and labor camps with perceived enemies, including many of those they had freed, as well as new victims of their purges. The initial release was a tactical ploy, not a commitment to freedom, and Solzhenitsyn uses this to underscore the deceptive nature of the Communist regime’s early promises.

    I think the goal is to say that anything that happens in the current regime is illegitimate. Antonio Gramski mentioned that he wanted men and women to distrust each other, the clerisy and the laity to distrust each other and the common people and the cops to distrust each other. With all that distrust, the Communists could easily conquer a weaker more suspicious society.

    Are we seeing something similar?

    The whole system is set up to make people be populists and socialists.

    @drbastiat

    Well this explains why leftists in America do things that don’t work. Things working isn’t actually the point. 

     

    • #23
  24. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    W Bob (View Comment):

    I do think there has to be enough process to ensure that someone who is mistakenly detained, such as a citizen, is not deported by accident. This doesn’t require a long drawn out process and a court date to be set and appeals etc. Special magistrates could be appointed for this purpose. One hundred of them could probably handle five thousand cases a day.

    This could be done but when the deportation is delayed for due process the person should be detained and confined if confirmed as illegally in America.

    I am beginning to think Greenland might be a good waystation.  

    • #24
  25. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    W Bob (View Comment):

    I do think there has to be enough process to ensure that someone who is mistakenly detained, such as a citizen, is not deported by accident. This doesn’t require a long drawn out process and a court date to be set and appeals etc. Special magistrates could be appointed for this purpose. One hundred of them could probably handle five thousand cases a day.

    This could be done but when the deportation is delayed for due process the person should be detained and confined if confirmed as illegally in America.

    I am beginning to think Greenland might be a good waystation.

    I’ve always thought we should set up a factory in the middle of Alaska and stick them up there. This is a better idea. lol

    • #25
  26. EJHill Staff
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Old Bathos: If I live in a jurisdiction in which the district attorney expressly refuses to prosecute anyone who steals purses from old ladies carrying less than $10,000 in cash and valuables, does that establish a legal right to steal purses from old ladies?

    Then Krist Noem is out of luck. She was only carrying $3K and her DHS badge, her driver’s license, house keys and check book when she had her purse snatched today. And this woman is charged with keeping us all safe?

    • #26
  27. Bill Berg Coolidge
    Bill Berg
    @Bill Berg

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I agree. Who thought we’d live to see lawlessness by our judiciary system?

    Sadly, our DOJ has been corrupt for a long time. The book I review in this Substack post (Licensed to Lie) takes us back to Ted Stevens being wrongly prosecuted and other famous cases. Our legal system has been rotten to the core for a long time. 

    • #27
  28. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Bill Berg (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I agree. Who thought we’d live to see lawlessness by our judiciary system?

    Sadly, our DOJ has been corrupt for a long time. The book I review in this Substack post (Licensed to Lie) takes us back to Ted Stevens being wrongly prosecuted and other famous cases. Our legal system has been rotten to the core for a long time.

    It really is. It makes me want to throw up. 

    • #28
  29. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Where do we turn when the legal system is this politicized?

    • #29
  30. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    kedavis (View Comment):

    The US didn’t deport Garcia to prison.

    The US deported him to his home country.

    Not true.  We’re paying the Salvadorans to hold [all of those] deportees in prison.

    • #30
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