#van hollen

Wow. Diplomatic pressure absolutely worked. Van Hollen got in, met with Mr. Abrego, and becomes the first person to have ANY meeting with any of the people sent to El Salvador on March 15.

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Another good day in the defense of democracy.

April 18, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

It was another good day for those hoping the forces of democracy will prevail over the forces of chaos and autocracy. Four major stories frame the effective resistance that is beginning to turn the tide against Trump.

A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rebuked Trump’s bad-faith effort to evade responsibility for returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia—and delivered a stirring defense of the rule of law!

Harvard stood firm even as Trump expanded his illegal targeting of Harvard by threatening to exclude tens of thousands of foreign students.

GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski broke the wall of silence behind which most of her Republican colleagues are hiding, chastising them for abandoning the Constitution.

Senator Chris Van Hollen met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in the infamous El Salvadoran prison—a testament to his persistence, resistance, and creative thinking.

Concerned citizens across America are planning another weekend of protests against the unlawful and unconstitutional actions of the Trump administration.

Finally, the damage caused by Trump’s assault on the economy is driving markets lower, forcing Trump to make a desperate and illegal threat: Removing the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Jerome Powell. The threat is a sign of weakness and fear on Trump’s part.

Let’s take a look at these stories to understand why we should move forward with confidence in our defense of the rule of law.

Fourth Circuit panel rebukes Trump over Abrego Garcia while framing the constitutional showdown in an opinion written for the American people, the Supreme Court, and Trump.

The stakes in the Abrego Garcia case pending before Judge Paula Xinis are high. She has ordered the Trump administration to participate in discovery to learn why the government has refused to comply with the Supreme Court’s order to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia.

The Trump administration appealed Judge Xinis’s discovery order to the Fourth Circuit, repeating the government’s bad-faith arguments to justify its refusal to comply with the orders of Judge Xinis and the Supreme Court.

Trump then asked the 4th Circuit to stop the discovery proceedings designed to learn the “who, why, and how” of the government’s disobedience to the court’s order.

A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to stop the discovery proceedings before Judge Xinis.

In denying the Trump administration’s request to stop the discovery ordered by Judge Xinis, the Fourth Circuit issued an extraordinary opinion that perfectly captures the conflict at the center of the Abrego Garcia case and describes the impending constitutional crisis that would be caused by Trump’s continued refusal to comply with the orders of Judge Xinis and the Supreme Court.

The relatively brief opinion by the Fourth Circuit deserves to be read in its entirety—and today, I am going to ask you to do just that. Rather than directing you to a different site to read the opinion, I have copied it below. I have removed legal citations and procedural references to make an easy-to-read opinion even more accessible.

The opinion by the Fourth Circuit perfectly frames the crisis to come while highlighting the underlying constitutional and democratic values that are at stake. I have bolded some portions of the opinion for emphasis. Otherwise, the words below are those of the Fourth Circuit in their entirety.

Abrego Garcia v Noem | No. 25-1404 | April 17, 2025

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THIS is what true leadership and a HERO does!

If he can get some answers as well as bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia home, hopefully they can bring OTHER innocent people like Andrys Hernandez as well as the innocent 19 year old ICE just shrugged off BACK HOME.

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen met Thursday in El Salvador with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

Van Hollen posted a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Abrego Garcia’s wife “to pass along his message of love.” The lawmaker did not provide an update on the status of Abrego Garcia, whose attorneys are fighting to force the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the U.S., saying he would have more details Friday.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele posted images of the meeting minutes before Van Hollen shared his post, saying, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.” The tweet ended with emojis of the U.S. and El Salvador flags, with a handshake emoji between them.

DEMS-13

Trump’s 2017 inauguration cost the District of Columbia $27.3 million. 2½ years later, his administration still owes D.C. $7.3 million. So naturally the Narcissist-in-Chief thought it would be an excellent idea to hold an over-the-top self-aggrandizing Independence Day “Salute to America” in D.C., complete with military jets and tanks, which cost at least “six times as much as in years past,” and likely more “as the city continues to tally expenses.”

As a result of the debts that D.C. has incurred due to Trump’s egotism, the city estimates that its Emergency Planning and Security Fund “will be depleted before the end of FY2019, leaving overages of over $6 million.”

[CALLED IT]