He needs to be at least disbarred:Dark of night? What does that have to do with anything? Of course, the administration can appeal, but there’s nothing secret or sinister about a judge deciding an urgent case urgently and posting the ruling on the public docket. Sounds like a judge working diligently for justice.… https://t.co/yxJHS38Iqh
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) September 24, 2026
A three-judge panel for the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals last week sided with a lower court judge who had found the Trump administration violated the law in attempting to deport migrants to countries other than the one they are from, determining they have a right to meaningful opportunity to contest and raise concerns.Removing persons to third party countries where they have no connection is a clear violation of law, according to the trial court and the First Circuit. According to the DOJ, they could deport one of the parties because the First Circuit ruling hadn’t taken effect yet.
But after their victory, lawyers for the migrants had to return to court to block one of the deportations at issue in the case.
Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, said ICE “plainly stated that they were treating the decision as if it wasn’t in effect.”
“We filed that in response to the fact that they were clearly moving forward with third country removals, notwithstanding the 1st Circuit’s order and opinion on Friday,” she told The Hill.
An email from a Justice Department attorney offered a more technical explanation: While the appeals court upheld Murphy’s ruling, it did not specifically lift their initial stay barring it from taking effect during trial.The legal term of art here is: “too cute by half.” Although that should be in law Latin (almost Latin), or law French (almost legal, but sounds Continental).
The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals “granted the government’s motion for a ‘stay pending appeal.’ An appeal does not conclude until the mandate issues under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 41 returning the case to district court,” that attorney wrote.
It’s a confusing claim, as the day the ruling was issued the case was remanded back to Murphy’s court.
“They kind of refused to acknowledge that they lost in court, so they came up with this technical point, and then the 1st Circuit took that excuse out from under them,” Realmuto said.
An emergency filing from Realmuto on Wednesday night was swiftly responded to by the court, who at 11:30 p.m. wrote that “consistent with this court’s September 18, 2026, Judgment, the March 16, 2026, stay pending appeal is dissolved.”
It was the 11:30 p.m. rebuke of the DOJ that prompted Blanche to show such blatant disrespect for the court. Which is grounds for at least an ethics complaint to the appropriate Bar Association. Especially since he’s the Attorney General of the United States.
He’s making me miss Ed Meese.
