Ask And Ye Shall Be Answered

In June, SCOTUS handed Trump another pass by ruling that lower courts can't put a restraining order on the whole federal government in response to a lawsuit filed in a local or regional jurisdiction - unless its a class action suit that reaches across jurisdictions.

So guess what.

US-born citizen sues after twice being arrested by immigration agents

Leonardo Garcia Venegas was twice arrested in construction site sweeps.

Alabama man sues federal government after being detained by ICE twiceAttorney Jaba Tistsuashvili says his client, Garcia Venegas, was wrongly detained by ICE twice, one of which was a violent encounter, despite showing his real ID to prove his American citizenship.
A U.S.-born citizen who was arrested and detained by immigration authorities twice in recent months has filed a lawsuit against the federal government claiming he was improperly detained.

Leonardo Garcia Venegas, an American citizen and construction worker who lives and works in Baldwin, Alabama, claims the arrests were "unreasonable" and violated the Fourth Amendment that protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

"DHS authorizes these armed raids based on the general assumption that certain groups of people in the industry, including Latinos, are likely illegal immigrants," Venegas' attorney claimed in the lawsuit. "Once immigration officers are on a site, they preemptively seize everybody they think looks undocumented."

The lawsuit is a proposed class action complaint filed on behalf of U.S. citizens and lawful residents who, while working a construction job, "have been or will be subject to the Warrantless Entry Policy," the suit said, amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

The complaint alleges that immigration officers have enforced policies adopted by the Department of Homeland Security that "grant federal immigration officers sweeping search and seizure powers."

"ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement responding to accusations that immigration authorities have detained American citizens. "Any U.S. citizens arrested are because of obstructing or assaulting law enforcement."

According to the lawsuit, Venegas, who was born in the United States, was first detained in May at a construction site by armed men in camouflage.

"The officers ran right past the white and Black workers without detaining them and went straight for the Latino workers," his attorney claimed in the lawsuit.

Two weeks later, Venegas was allegedly arrested again on another private construction site "when another immigration patrol saw him working and assumed, without reasonable suspicion, that Leo was undocumented."

Both times, Venegas claims he told the officers he was a citizen and showed them his REAL ID, an identification card issued only to citizens and lawful residents, the lawsuit said.

"But the officers still wouldn't let him go," the suit said.

The lawsuit included 19 examples of citizens and lawful residents who have been allegedly detained "in circumstances" like Venegas.

"As Leo's experience shows, these unlawful policies have real consequences for innocent, hardworking Americans," the lawsuit said.

Trump seeks expedited Supreme Court review of birthright citizenship executive order
A statement released by DHS said that during a targeted worksite operation, "Garcia Venegas attempted to obstruct and prevent the lawful arrest of an illegal alien."

"He physically got in between agents and the subject they were attempting to arrest and refused to comply with numerous verbal commands," the statement said. "Anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties, including U.S. citizens, will of course face consequences which include arrest."

Let's Get Active

WaPo:
Judge dismisses Gohmert lawsuit seeking to stymie Biden electoral college count

A federal judge in Texas has dismissed a long-shot lawsuit by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) that sought to overturn the presidential election, saying neither the congressman nor his allies have legal standing to pursue the case.

The judge’s Friday night ruling tosses out what many election law experts considered a far-fetched theory to challenge the formal mechanism by which President-elect Joe Biden will be affirmed as the winner of the race for president.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle issued an order dismissing the case because, he found, neither Gohmert nor his fellow plaintiffs have a sufficient legal stake in the process to justify the lawsuit. Kernodle was nominated to the federal bench by President Trump.

The judge’s ruling comes less than 12 hours after lawyers for Gohmert filed court papers arguing that Vice President Pence has far more power than the government claims to alter the outcome of the presidential election. Gohmert’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal later Friday night.

The piece goes on to explain just how silly the court sees this latest attempt to be, and that (basically) making shit up about what you presuppose will happen isn't a good premise in law.

But here's the thing:

For better than 25 years, "conservatives" have spent lots of time and energy and money making loud noises about how much they hate "judicial activism" - what they say is the courts making law.

But those same "conservatives" are constantly petitioning the courts to do exactly that - create law, made-to-order, custom-fit and purpose-built to support the Republicans' ambitions.

Republicans are acting like they hired those judges to be their own private contractors who're paid to do whatever the GOP tells them to do.

SLAPP Happy

Sec'y Reich explains:

It should be pretty clear now why the Repubs are trying so hard to fill the Federal Bench with mouth-breathers who'll go along with whatever horse shit comes down from Corporate HQ.