Hacker News Reader

Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

This administration has already told a court that they are above the law. A lawsuit would be meaningless.

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/16/trump-white-house-defy-judg...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43384730

A lawsuit is never meaningless. One doesn't stop trying to enforce the law because a criminal is persistent. And someone that willingly breaks a law for immoral reasons and without being willing to face the consequences is a criminal.

I would add that pursuing legal recourse is the only way to reach that Supreme Court decision where either the administration is slapped down or the courts relinquish their Art III powers. Until then we're only approaching a potential constitutional crisis, where the administration has plenty of opportunity to back down.

A de facto surrendering of Art III is the same as the presumptive crisis. We are here, though, it's no longer a hypothetical to maneuver around.

It is not in front of SCOTUS at the moment so we aren't "here" yet and the lower courts have not been surrendering to executive power.

A lower court just declared their treatment and deportation of Venezuelans as unlawful and it changed literally nothing. They’re still doing it. We’ve seen this several times already. Unless enforcement happens, they simply don’t stop.

Is that what happened? I am only aware of an injunction against additional deportation flights. There is some uncertainty about the administration's justifications for not complying - they may be entirely correct that the terrorist designation changes the calculus.

And injunctions are far, far from the point at which things are "declared unlawful".

I agree that you must go through the motions to push to the maximum extent of judicial recourse. But, depending on your threat model, you must be prepared if recourse through the legal framework is not forthcoming. An injunction or favorable determination by a court is of little use if you're dead, for example (lots of other examples of irreversible harm, which needs no enumeration here).

Trump's border czar [Tom Homan]: "I don't care what the judges think" - https://www.axios.com/2025/03/17/tom-homan-deportation-fligh... - March 17th, 2025

Has a court found that they are above the law?

Yes. Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 (2024)

Hah my fault for not being specific. He is certainly not criminally liable for such actions. But it's a frighteningly common misconception that SCOTUS ruled he could do anything and not have it reversed by the courts.

That's a misconception shared by POTUS, unfortunately.

Eh,that is the narrative he is trying to project so that when the courts issue injunctions or rulings against him he can claim to be victimized. Or that he tried his best to fulfill a campaign promise that can't be accomplished via exective orders. Many such cases.

If these narratives get him what he wants, what does it matter?

How would the narratives get him what he wants?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com