3mo ago

US senator returns from El Salvador trip, says Abrego Garcia case is about far more than one man

The Maryland senator said that Abrego Garcia reported he’d been moved from a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison, CECOT, to a detention center with better conditions.

Abrego Garcia’s status after Van Hollen left was not known, and there was no indication that Van Hollen’s trip pushed him any closer to release.

13 comments

Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, wrote that he and his two colleagues “cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos.”
Until I read this whole verdict, I hadn't realized why people were making a big deal about it. It's breathtaking.
The basic differences between the branches mandate a serious effort at mutual respect. The respect that courts must accord the Executive must be reciprocated by the Executive’s respect for the courts. Too often today this has not been the case, as calls for impeachment of judges for decisions the Executive disfavors and exhortations to disregard court orders sadly illustrate.
This is a losing proposition all around. The Judiciary will lose much from the constant intimations of its illegitimacy, to which by dint of custom and detachment we can only sparingly reply. The Executive will lose much from a public perception of its lawlessness and all of its attendant contagions.
The Executive may succeed for a time in weakening the courts, but over time history will script the tragic gap between what was and all that might have been, and law in time will sign its epitaph.
It is, as we have noted, all too possible to see in this case an incipient crisis, but it may present an opportunity as well. We yet cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos.
This case presents their unique chance to vindicate that value and to summon the best that is within us while there is still time.
The person who wrote that should get a medal made of gold.
Full text is in this post.
- Indeed beautifully written.
  I'm more blunt: "Do you want Martial Law?"
  I bet when it gets imposed, it will become top term in Google 😒
Nice to see someone saying it.
Maryland senator went to visit, I'd assume, his constituen who was illegally trafficked to another country, but Republican can't even visit their constituents at their State. Something something both sides my ass.
context
Returns alone*
Comes back empty handed?
- You wanted him to break him out?
  
  That would seem badass until it invites a political sovereignty grievance. The US throws its weight around quite enough, and we absolutely meddle in other nations’ affairs for less justified reasons, but release of a citizen from the custody of a sovereign state is always negotiated, not forced, to ensure there’s always incentive to maintain the captive’s health the next time around.
Is that Great Value purified drinking water? Label printed in English at a Salvadorean restaurant? Is that common?
- You expect a corporation to want to spend money making labels in multiple languages.
  There are six Walmart's in El Salvador. Why would a company that gets its employees to sign up for food stamps to offload their responsibilities onto the govt spend money on multi language labels?
  
  https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/el-salvador-labelingmarking-requirements

13 comments