Losing My Perspicacity April 8, 2025

Good morning and Happy Tuesday. Thanks for starting your day with me today.

Before we get to the news, here's a (very stupid) personal update: I have tennis elbow. No, I didn’t get it from doing anything cool, like free climbing El Capitan or playing tennis. It appears to result from constantly tapping my phone and writing on my laptop. I saw a specialist last week and got some anti-inflammatories, but I am 51, so my body is slowly falling apart. I have to restrict a bunch of activities, like lifting at the gym, but also holding my Kindle in bed at night and playing Angry Birds. As I said, this whole thing is extremely dumb. I’m telling you this because there may be a day or two here or there when my elbow is killing me and I have to cut the newsletter a bit short. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated, and if anyone asks, I hurt my arm falling off a mountain or fighting a shark.

Now then.

The Dodgers made their long-awaited trip to the White House yesterday. I know this because of the large number of people yelling about this.

That’s Dodgers’ two-way player and reigning MVP Shohei Ohtani shaking hands with the Orange Menace.

Having covered MLB for years, I think people would be unpleasantly surprised by the politics of the vast majority of baseball players. They are a conservative crew. Yes, even the Dodgers. Yes, even after the Trump Administration tried to erase Jackie Robinson’s military history from the DOD website. Guys like Sean Doolittle (an outspoken LGBTQ+ advocate) and Dexter Fowler (spoke out against Trump’s Muslim travel ban) are few and far between.

Many of these guys are from conservative Christian homes, and their politics reflect that. Remember Clayton Kershaw “disagreeing” with inviting Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to a Dodgers game? Remember the Ricketts Family (owners of the Chicago Cubs) holding a fundraiser for Trump at Wrigley Field? Remember the Astros’ Brandon Taubman yelling in the face of a reporter because she was wearing a domestic violence awareness bracelet in the clubhouse?

Sadly, this is who baseball is. Not that there aren’t good guys in the game, there are. But there are a lot more guys who are probably among the more conservative in America. Hell, Joe Maddon dragged the Cubs to the White House for a second time so they could hang out with Trump. That wasn't very pleasant. But, having had to interview many of these guys (and let me tell you, talking to some iconic names was brutal), I can tell you that some of them aren’t all that bright. They’re ballplayers. They want to play ball, hang out with friends, and go home to their families. Very few of them feel the obligation to use their platform to try to change the world for the better.

I left the law because I loved baseball so much that all I wanted to do was read, write, and talk about the game. People warned me that seeing how the sausage was made would change my fandom, and they were right. I no longer expect pro athletes to do the right thing, which doesn’t mean I’m above criticizing them when they do the wrong thing. But I accept that most of them will just keep their heads down and go along with whatever the team does. Most pro athletes are not deep thinkers about politics (the WNBA and the NWSL are outliers). And the ones who are smart/deep thinkers? They wind up like Chris Kluwe — out of the league for being too outspoken. That’s the way it is.

Today: So much for SCOTUS saving us; We all need more curling in our lives; The markets are crashing, so Trump goes after trans kids again; It’s time to start chaining ourselves to trees again; and The High Note.

Let’s get into it.

SCOTUS is not going to save us

Two orders came down from the Supreme Court today. Let’s talk about them in turn.

As you know, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied its request to stay the order from federal judge Paula Xinis, who told ICE to get Kilmar Brego Garcia back home from El Salvador by Monday at 11:59 pm.

That “moral clarity,” however, was short-lived from the judicial system, as Chief Justice John Roberts gave Donald Trump exactly what he asked for.

In the big picture, don’t read too much into Roberts’ order, which paused Xinis’ order that Brego Garcia had to be home by Monday night. There was no hearing or ruling on the merits of the case, and courts often temporarily stay orders to give other judges a chance to read through the file and catch up on the proceedings. But I’m sure that’s cold comfort to Brego Garcia’s family, and it’s not a great look for the Supreme Court — especially one perceived to be in Trump’s pocket.

Then, early last night, SCOTUS handed down a far more impactful ruling, vacating both temporary restraining orders (TROs) put in place by Judge Boasberg. The first prohibited ICE from removing five named plaintiffs from the US under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act — that 1798 law the US has never used outside of wartime until now. The second TRO stopped ICE from deporting a putative (meaning not “officia”) class of non-documented immigrants under the same Act.

So yeah, not great.

The opinion was per curiam, meaning it wasn’t written by a specific judge, but by every judge on the winning side of the 5-4 opinion. Personally, the whole feels very Alito-coded. The ruling doesn’t say that the government is allowed to deport immigrants under the Act but finds that the proper place for that determination is via a petition for habeas corpus. In effect, the Court isn’t saying it agrees with the Trump administration, but told the ACLU and their clients, “you’re doing it wrong.”

There are several problems with this ruling: 1) Filing a habeas petition in Texas gives prisoners almost no chance of success; and 2) ICE is putting people on planes to El Salvador so quickly that they aren’t getting a chance even to let their families know what’s happening to them, must less file a petition for relief in the courts. By the time detainees have reached El Salvador, the Trump administration is all, “Oh, they’re not in the US anymore, we don’t have any jurisdiction over them.”

There is almost no way for detainees to win.

Finally, SCOTUS is endorsing a case-by-case evaluation of whether the AEA applies to each individual prisoner, inevitably resulting in differing rulings in differing jurisdictions. Because SCOTUS is leaving determining whether AEA is applicable to each district, what kind of due process you get will depend on what state you live in. What a mess.

Justice Coney-Barrett sided with the three liberal justices in parts of the dissent, written by Justice Sotomayor. Here’s the money quote:

And, importantly, Sotomayor holds the majority’s feet to the fire by reiterating long-standing law about due process.

Sotomayor is leaving zero room for ICE to play games with “notice” and putting people on planes in the middle of the night, as they did with Boasberg’s orders. If they decide to fuck around again, they’ll have little defense to a motion to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court.

Aside from the obvious, I hate this ruling because it affirms what all the Trump officials have been saying for months, that they’re not subject to rulings made by a district court judge, which, of course, they are. Judge Boasberg showed a lot of integrity and courage in how he handled the DOJ, and seeing SCOTUS come riding to Trump’s rescue, once again, is as demoralizing as it is corrupt. And it lends credence to Trump’s argument that he only has to obey orders from the Supreme Court.

The other problem is that if you give Trump an inch, he’ll take a mile. He’s already talking about disappearing American citizens with a criminal history into CECOT.

I have a blistering headache and my pocket copy of the Constitution just burst into flames.