It's more like the Pope clung on to life just for the opportunity to insult JD Vance. Once that was accomplished, there was no additional reason to stick around.
As long as it's a federal court holding them in contempt, Trump can just pardon them.
Criminal contempt has this problem, but civil contempt is not pardonable, because there is no crime to pardon.
Judge Boasberg is trying to proceed with criminal contempt on the "turn the planes around" order. Whatever happens there, it is unlikely to end in convictions that stick.
Judge Xinis is proceeding towards civil contempt. If she finds someone in willful contempt, she can imprison them until they choose to comply. And the evidence standard in civil contempt is "clear and convincing," not "beyond a reasonable doubt."
I'm pretty sure nobody registers their personal smartphone and laptop every time they leave the US for a vacation.
I agree with you on this, but CBP is certainly within their legal rights to interrogate you on the origins of your personal electronics, and they can make a determination that your stuff is subject to duty if it's over the limit and they don't believe you are reimporting.
The infamous immunity ruling gives the President a lot of immunity from criminal prosecution.
But besides that, there's an older precedent in civil litigation that no judge can write an injunction directly against the President in the performance of his official duties. So all of these TROs and injunctions, including the Friday SC order, either do not apply to the President himself, or they are illegally broad*.
Under this theory of law, the President could theoretically arrest and deport all the people he wants with no judicial intervention -- just as long he does all the arrests by himself, and flies the planes by himself, etc. In reality, the fat man is always going to have underlings doing the stuff for him, and they do not have this immunity from civil injunctions.
*This is one of the points raised in Alito's dissent: the SC order applies to "the Government", without saying whether the President is included or not.
And even if the kids did say this thing, it would in no way prejudice his absolute right to remain in the country. Even if he did cross the border illegally without presenting at a port of entry, he would still have the right to enter and remain.
For residents of the United States the duty free limit when returning is 800 dollars worth of stuff. I believe that's every thirty days. You usually have to answer whether you exceed this limit in the declaration.
So you just go to Canada, buy the thing, unpack it from the packaging, and pretend like its just personal items. Just like a smartphone.
If tariffs become a big thing, this will definitely happen more, but it will also get a lot more scrutiny from customs as well.
AFIAK, border agents usually don't ask if you bought your phone in the US or from outside, they shouldn't ask about other personal electronics, right?
Stuff that you exported and reimported for personal or business use, but not for resale, is exempt from duty with no dollar limits. If you want documented proof that you are reimporting, you can register the stuff at a customs office in the United States before you leave.
This YouTube channel is doing a great job of covering the engineering-related testimony from the Coast Guard board of inquiry.
Lots of details on hoop stresses, strain gauges, carbon fiber layup, dome window design, and of course engineers getting their technical objections overruled for cost and schedule reasons.
The bigger deal is that this immunity protection does not extend to the President's minions and officials.
Trump is never going to round up the prisoners and fly the plane to El Salvador all by himself. He's got people to do that, and those people can be served with court orders and criminal contempt process.
The thing where the judge orders summary jail time is reserved for contempt "a facie curiae", meaning "in the face of the court". That's for blatant disrespect or disruption in the courtroom in front of the judge.
So far, Drew Ensign has managed to refrain from anything as directed as that. So he hasn't been jailed.
This ruling was made by a Trump-appointed district court judge, and two Trump-appointed appellate judges declined to grant a last minute administrative stay.
That goes to show just how much of a loser this AP case is for the Trump administration. Yet the administration ignored the order anyway, and they filed a paper this morning suggesting that the appellate judges merely "forgot" to issue the steady.
It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador. He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.
Harvard has a serious law school, but they got some big names in private practice to rep on this litigation. That's probably a good move for them.