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- [00:01]
Sponsor Voice
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- [00:31]
Grandpa
Grandpa's here.
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Hank
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Michael Popak
Well, what Donald Trump has proclaimed to be as great as victory before the United States Supreme Court is actually a 6 to 3 loss when it comes to immigration, deportation and his unconstitutional use of the Alien Enemies Act. And now we've got the rulings of four separate federal judges just in the last three days, all against the Trump administration. Coming off that Supreme Court decision, which Donald Trump and his minions all crowed about as a big win for Donald Trump, it will be their undoing. They just refuse to recognize the impact of the 6 to 3 decision by the Supreme Court in a case we call jgg. And we're already seeing the ramifications with judges in New York, in Colorado, in Texas, all uniformly and for basically the same reason, ruling against the Trump administration based on that ruling. And it's having real world implications for the Department of Justice for Donald Trump and in their cases. In fact, Jeb Boseberg, the chief judge of the district court that sort of kicked all of this off and is the underlying case in the Supreme Court case. I'm going to outline for you now, he said to a Department of justice lawyer just recently in his courtroom, just the other day in his courtroom, you would agree with me that the landscape in the legal landscape for the Trump administration is as follows. Four separate federal judges have all ruled against Donald Trump and the Trump administration. Right. About his use of the Alien Enemies act, finding it to be unconstitutional. My right about that. And, and of course, the Department of Justice lawyer had to agree, you got to agree that you're on the Midas Touch Network and you're on Legal af and you're here with Michael Popak, one of the founders of Legal af. Without blowing smoke or sunshine, without further ado, let's get into this hot take. I said about three weeks ago, almost four weeks ago now, when the court made its ruling in JGG 6 to 3, a lot of the media was reporting it as a win for the Trump administration. And I said, not quite. And we said it on Legal A off the podcast that it was a procedural ruling that the court had ruled that Judge Boasberg, who was presiding over these 250 people not named Abrego Garcia, who were shipped off to El Salvador, he asserted jurisdiction over that case. He asserted jurisdiction and certified a class of people that were sent to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act. He found it more likely than not that the Alien Enemies act was violated by Donald Trump and he grounded those airplanes. Now, The Supreme Court, 6 to 3, said that Boasberg, not that he went too far, but it was the wrong court.
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Co-host
They didn't question his decision making.
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Michael Popak
They questioned the court. They said the court is that should be properly used is the different courts where these people were located just before they were loaded onto planes or where they are currently being held by the US Government in the United States, Texas, Colorado, New York and the rest. And they said it had to be done through a writ of habeas corpus petition. So they just said to Boseberg, you're basically fine, but your rulings are based on you. You don't really have jurisdiction over this because we want it spread out. Now, the Trump administration jumped up and down and said, we win because they unblocked Judge Boasberg's ruling about the use of the Alien Enemies act. And they interpreted and they crowed about a win.
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Co-host
We get to use the Alien Enemies Act.
- [04:48]
Michael Popak
That's not what the JGG decision said. What the JGG decision said is that for now, each federal judge that deals with an individual or class certified habeas corpus petition for These individual prisoners or those in their district need can or have the jurisdiction to consider the constitutionality, the legitimacy of Donald Trump using the Alien Enemies Act. Donald Trump must have missed that part. I did a whole hot take recently about what is Pam Bondi, what sunshine and smoke, she's blowing up Donald Trump's, you know what? Because she and the lawyers around him and the non lawyers around him that think they're lawyers like Stephen Miller are lying to Trump or he's willfully blind about it cuz he doesn't want to know the truth. The truth is each federal judge that now has addressed it four in a row, starting with Judge Rodriguez just a week ago. And then we had Judge Sweeney, then we had Judge Hellerstein. And they're all spread out, Texas, Colorado, New York. But they're all coming to the same conclusion. Donald Trump did not have the power to invoke the Alien Enemies act as an emergency. There's no predatory incursion going on. We're not at war with Venezuela. The trend, the Aragua gang is not enemy combatants. None of that. Each Judge Trump, Judge Biden, Judge Trump, Judge Obama judge or Clinton judge, all uniformly saying the same thing. And now that's filtered into courtrooms like Judge Bay Boseberg, because there's all these related cases about Donald Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act. So let me just give you kind of a quick overview and shout out to just security and all the people there for kind of pulling this all together. I mean, I've been dashing it down myself, but they pulled it all together in a nice piece of just security. So on May 6, we can kind of do this. We'll do this in date order. Really starts with if you want to go back in time, March 26, when the D.C. circuit Court of Appeals with Judge Karen Henderson, who was a Reagan and Bush appointee, she concurred with with Millet. And they ruled on March 26 that this was not an invasion, she said, quoting a dictionary over 200 years post the enactment, the government claims that the term invasion as used in the Alien Enemies act encompasses the arrival of people or things who are not wanted there. The text and its original meaning say otherwise. The theme that rings true is that an invasion is a military affair, not one of migration. And that got picked up later on. Hold on to that Karen Henderson thing, because that statement by her got picked up by Judge Rodriguez in Texas when he issued the first injunction, permanent injunction against the Trump administration. Now we move forward to 23 April. On 23 April, Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee in a settlement arena but related to immigration, she declared, quote, defendants have provided no evidence as to how the plaintiff or any other class members pose a threat to public safety under the Alien Enemies Act. See, now the wheels are starting to fall off.
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Co-host
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- [08:01]
Michael Popak
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- [10:40]
Michael Popak
We then move to Fernando Rodriguez, not only a Trump appointee, his first Hispanic that he's ever appointed to the federal bench, at least this term, Fernando Rodriguez, or at least last term. He says the question that this lawsuit presents is whether the president can utilize a specific statute, the aea, the Alien Enemies act act to detain and remove Venezuelan aliens who are members of the tda. The trend Aragua. As to that question, the historical record renders clear that the president's invocation of that AEA through the proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the ordinary meaning. As a result, the court concludes that as a matter of law, the executive branch cannot rely on the Alien Enemies act to remove them from this country. And he also cited back or at least used the same language as Judge Henderson back in March. But we're not done. We move forward five days later to May 6th. Just three days ago, Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee in the Southern District of New York who's had a number of cases with Donald Trump and ruling against him, he said, I hold that the predicates for the Presidential Proclamation that TDA has engaged in either a war invasion or predatory incursion do not exist. Other courts have ruled similarly. And he cites back to Rodriguez and others, there is nothing in the Alien Enemies act that justifies a finding that these refugees who infiltrated the migrants are engaged in an invasion or predatory incursion. They are criminal, but they're not. They're not a predatory incursion. Judge. That's Judge Hellerstein, but we're not done. Charlotte Sweeney, back to a Biden appointee. Also on the same day, May 6, she ruled in Colorado. According to respondents, she says the president determined TDA the gang is perpetuating an invasion or predatory incursion in the US in making this argument, respondents read the word invasion to broadly mean a hostile encroachment. She says, having considered historical definitions, the court determines the petitioners are likely to succeed on the merits that the president invoked the act and exceeds the statute and is therefore unlawful. We got Biden, we got Trump, we got Obama, we got another Trump. And this is off a case JGG 6 to 3 that Donald Trump proclaimed.
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Co-host
To be a win.
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Michael Popak
So it never really was. It never really was. And look at the losing hand that Donald Trump's been pressing ever since. He's got the JGG case six to three. And I just explained to you on this hot take While that was really a loss procedurally, not a win or a loss substantively and not a win, even though it had a slight wind win that he could proclaim and crow about, it really wasn't. And it was a ticking time bomb that's now blown up in the face of Donald Trump. Then you've got the just to show you where the court is, the 90 decision comes out next. That's in favor of Judge Zinnis and how she's providing due process to Abrego Garcia and ordering him and ordering the Trump administration to facilitate his release from an El Salvador in prison. And we're still in that, that, that open defiance by Donald Trump on that issue. And they continue to openly defy it in front of Zinnis. I just did a hot take updating you about Judge Zinnis just earlier today. That's 90 against the Trump administration. That was followed about two weeks later by a 7 to 2 decision in, in a case involving other migrants, undocumented who were being deported from, from Texas. And the Supreme Court said, no more deportation, no more, no more El Salvador until we resolve the due process issue. So they grounded the planes seven to two. And even in the dissent, which was Alito and Thomas, even Alito told Trump, you better abide and comply with our laws and our rulings as a Supreme Court. This is the losing hand that Donald Trump is pressing, and the poll numbers are showing it as well. As we've talked about at length on Midas Touch and Legal Afghanistan, Americans like their due process, constitutionally provided by a president. They don't want to hear a president go on national television and say he doesn't understand the Constitution or his sworn oath to uphold it, and he doesn't understand whether due process is part of that. Americans don't like that brand of democracy that Donald Trump is peddling. They see it for what it is. It's fascism on the road to a military takeover by Donald Trump and the suspension of the Constitution. And the polling numbers say to Trump, obey the Supreme Court and obey federal courts. And yet they continue to lean on attacking federal courts. Except they're not attacking the Trump people, of course, but the rest are all Marxist and radical. And you know, all the ways they're attacking Pope Leo now, 24 hours into him becoming pope, because they don't like his stance in favor of immigration rights and in favor of humane treatment of people and in favor of not having people summarily put on planes in the middle of the night and whisked up gulags in foreign countries, you know. So we're going to watch that battle. Leo versus Trump. There's a reason that conclave picked Leo. I've done a separate hot take on Legal AF, the YouTube channel. There's a reason that wasn't by accident. They knew that he is. He is. I will call him the anti Trump because that sounds bad, but he is a perfect foil for Donald Trump morally, spiritually, and and the rest of the and MAGA is losing their mind over it. But you're not losing your mind. You're here on the Midas Touch Network and on legalif. I'm so glad you are. So many ways for you to consume all things legal af. We got a podcast Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8pm Eastern time here on the Midas Touch Network. You can pick us up on audio platforms as well. In addition, We've got Legal AF the YouTube channel Legal AF MTN. Come over to Legal AFMTN help us reach our goal of 700,000 subscribers. On addition to that, we've got the new substack for Legal AF Legal AF the Substack. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak.
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Co-host
Can't get your fill of Legal af. Me neither.
- [16:49]
Michael Popak
That's why we formed the Legal AF sub stack.
- [16:51]
Co-host
Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack.
- [16:57]
Michael Popak
You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup.
- [17:02]
Co-host
That I do called Wait for it Morning af.
- [17:05]
Michael Popak
What else? All the other contributors from Legal AOF are there as well.
- [17:08]
Co-host
We got some new reporting, got interviews, we got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes where Legal AF on substack.
- [17:18]
Michael Popak
Come over now to free subscribe.