Kyle Cheney

DOJ is walking back the White House’s goal to arrest 3,000 immigrants per day It’s another discrepancy between what White House advisers say and the administration’s legal posture.

It’s also the latest example of a mismatch between White House rhetoric (think Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Alien Enemies Act, due process protections) and what DOJ lawyers say in court — at a time when DOJ’s relationship with judges has already been strained. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

The contradiction matters: Immigration advocates say the pressure to meet daily targets has led the administration to flagrantly violate due process and cut corners. Judges keep citing it as they strike down Trump’s most aggressive deportation measures. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

NEW: On Fox, Stephen Miller was unequivocal: the Trump administration wants a *minimum* of 3,000 immigration arrests per day to carry out Trump’s mass deportation policy.

On Friday night, DHS/ICE confirmed they’d never received such an order. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

NEW: A federal judge has blocked ICE from rapid-fire deportations of immigrants previously paroled into the country — shielding hundreds of thousands of people that ICE had targeted for quick removal and courthouse arrests.

w @joshgerstein @MyahWard

www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

BREAKING: Judge Cobb has blocked the Trump administration's use of summary deportation for those who had previously been paroled into the U.S. — and warns the tactics used by the administration are beginning to resemble the countries these people fled. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

Judge rips Noem’s latest termination of immigrant protections: ‘Color is neither a poison nor a crime’ U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson extended temporary protected status for Hondurans, Nepalis and Nicaraguans until Nov. 18.

NEW: Judge Thompson’s ruling blocks as Sept. 8 deadline for 63,000 Nicaraguan, Honduran and Nepalese immigrants to leave the country or lose legal permissions to reside here and work.

w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Judge Trina Thompson cited comments from Noem and others comparing TPS holders — who have lawful status — to criminals and people in the country illegally. She said Noem's comments seemed to espouse replacement theory. "Color is neither a poison nor a crime" storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

JUST IN: A federal judge has blocked Secrretary Noem's move to terminate temporary status for Nicaragua, Honduran and Nepaii immigrants, finding the cancelation was likely rooted in "racial animus." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NEW: Jeff Clark is the latest participant in Trump's effort to subvert the 2020 election to face severe professional consequences, following Rudy Giuliani, Ken Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and John Eastman.

Trump ally Mike Davis says this means "war."

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

IMPORTANT: Barring an unlikely intervention by the D.C. Court of Appeals, Clark — who now leads regulatory review at OMB — will be suspended from the practice of law within 30 days, while his case proceeds. Details TK

BREAKING: The D.C. Bar's board of professional responsibility recommends that Trump ally Jeff CLARK be *disbarred*

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Trump deployed the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify the tariffs, saying the nation's persistent trade deficits warranted it. But that law, which has supported sanctions and other penalties, has never been used for tariffs. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

NEW: A federal appeals court appeared sharply skeptical of President Trump's authority to impose sweeping tariffs based on his emergency economics power.

w/ @tradereporter

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Judge Boasberg invokes the Lorax in lawsuit brought by NLRB lawyer who wants to do environmental advocacy in her spare time. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

NEW: A criminal defendant in New Jersey says Alina Habba is acting illegally as U.S. attorney. His basis? Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling tossing criminal charges against Trump.

w @ryrivard

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

HAPPENING NOW: Appeals court judges raise immediate skepticism about whether President Trump had the power to impose sweeping and broad-based tariffs under his emergency powers.

"IEEPA doesn’t mention the word tariffs anywhere," one judge noted.

A Jan. 6 defendant, convicted for the brutal beating of an MPD officer, lost his bid to FOIA records about the victim officer — in part because Trump's pardon made it moot

Webster, a former NYPD officer, had been sentenced to 10 years before the pardon

ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

NEW: Sen. Pat Leahy warned in 2007 — presidents cannot use prolonged temporary U.S. attorneys to circumvent Senate confirmation.

Now that Trump is doing just that, Leahy tells me the Senate should stand up for its authority.

Today’s West Wing Playbook:

www.politico.com/live-updates...

JUST IN: 12 Democratic members of Congress are suing ICE over its new restrictions on detention faciity visits by lawmakers.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Chuck GRASSLEY brushes back Trump on "blue slips," says he's "offended" by Trump's attack on him and "disappointed" by the personal insults.

JUST IN: DOJ has dropped charges against Alejandro Orellana, a man charged for distributing face shields to protesters in LA -- and whose arrest was touted by Trump allies as a big win.

The reason was not immediately clear.

The Trump administration claims it doesn't defy court orders but a magistrate in Texas caught them red-handed using a too-small font.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NEW: The White House says Trump has fired the court-appointed U.S. attorney that NJ judges appointed to succeed Alina Habba.

They say the judicial appointee — Leigh Grace — never actually had the job, but just in case, she's fired anyway.

w/ @ryrivard.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

JUST IN: The Trump administration says Leigh Grace should never be U.S. attorney for New Jersey, but just in case, Trump has fired her from the position.

JUST IN: The Trump administration says Leigh Grace should never be U.S. attorney for New Jersey, but just in case, Trump has fired her from the position.

Trump admin escalates its war with the courts — this time targeting Judge Boasberg The Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint against the chief district judge in Washington D.C.

NOTABLY, Boasberg’s purported comments came after weeks in which Trump allies and some administration officials called for the impeachment of federal judges who opposed them and flirted with notion of defying courts.

w/ @joshgerstein

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Trump admin escalates its war with the courts — this time targeting Judge Boasberg The Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint against the chief district judge in Washington D.C.

NEW: AG Pam Bondi is taking a swing tonight at Chief Judge Boasberg over remarks he purportedly made at a conference in March — with Chief Justice Roberts watching — warning that the Trump admin might seek to defy court orders.

w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Judges press Trump administration on deportation quotas An appeals court panel pressed a DOJ attorney to confirm whether immigration officials have been ordered to carry out 3,000 deportations or deportation arrests a day.

NEW: A federal appeals court grilled the Trump administration today on reports of 3,000 daily deportation arrest quotas — and ordered the Justice Department to confirm whether they’re true.

w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

NEW: A criminal defendant filed the first of what coudl be many challenges to the authority of Acting U.S. attorney Alina Habba.

The matter has been sent to a district judge in PA because all the NJ judges are conflicted out.

w/ @ryrivard @joshgerstein

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

10:30pm on a Friday night is actually primetime on the legal beat!